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Golden Hearts	By : BetaBloodLust Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Slash - Male/Male Views: 3689 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: See Full Disclaimer Below--Any chapters containing explicit material will begin with warnings for the wary

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own the characters within the Harry Potter series. J. K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter series and all original characters introduced within the series. I make no money from this story. All noncanonical characters are fictional fabrications. They belong to me. Any resemblances to real persons or groups of people are coincidence and should be summarily disregarded, and the doppelganger perpetrators should be shot for impersonating my creations. Have a nice day.

Golden Hearts: Chapter 14: A Certain Brand of Cool

The next day, Arumus had Astronomy, a free hour, Herbology with Gryffindor, and Charms with Ravenclaw. He sat through the Astronomy lecture, diligently taking notes on upcoming alignments and specific star or planetary traits, which they always studied on Saturday evenings by telescope until late in the night. He spent his free hour reading the first half of Theory of Magic. After reading, he went to lunch and sat next to Percival and Jordan.

"So, kiddo, how did the lesson go last night?" Percival asked curiously.

"It was amazing," Arumus said, but he tried to choose his next words carefully. "We discussed some basic theory, and S--Professor Snape loaned me a very rare book." He was surprised at how easily the name, Severus, had replaced the word, "professor," in his thoughts.

Jordan looked surprised. "Did you just nearly call him by his first name?"

"Ah, yes. He said we need to treat each other like equals, during my lessons anyway." Arumus admitted quietly. Percival whistled lowly in admiration.

Jordan shook his head in disbelief. "You are the only student I have ever heard of who was actually asked to treat Professor Snape like an equal. Maybe the only person at Hogwarts besides the headmaster..."

Arumus regarded each of them with a serious expression. "Listen, guys, I don't want anyone else to know about my private lessons."

"We know," said Jordan.

Percival nodded in agreement. "We know how to keep secrets, Arumus, don't worry."

Arumus regarded them as he thought. Finally, he spoke. "I'm not worried, you know. I just wanted to be clear. I trust you both," With these words, Arumus realized that Severus' lesson had caused an important change in his life. He might have never taken this important step toward true friendship without learning that failure to trust and rely upon others meant stagnation and death.

Jordan smiled, and Percival scratched his head. "What is going on here? I thought you were Mr. Cool..."

"Oh, don't fret, Percival. I am Mr. Cool. But you are the frost, Percival, and you, Jordan, are that crazy, unfettered wind. See? Together, we're a storm, but separate, we just revert to the elements and melt or surrender in the sun..."

"That was very poetic..." Percival said, his eyes misty.

Jordan smacked the table before Percival and laughed when he jumped. "Daydream intercept." He explained to Arumus. "Sometimes Percival gets a little carried away with Romantic notions of friendship, love, and relationships... And I have to snap him back to reality before he does something stupid."

"Like what?" Arumus asked.

"Like asking a fourth year to go to Hogsmeade with him."

"Why would that be considered stupid?"

"Because he asked a guy, whose preference we had not yet discovered. Now we know: Diggory is either completely honest about his preference despite some feminine qualities... Or he is utterly in the closet and simply enjoys being tortured by his secret, repressed desires..."

"How do you figure either of those are the true answer?" Arumus seemed doubtful.

Jordan waved a hand airily. "Logical deduction and observation, my friend."

Percival seemed eager to change the subject. "Seriously, though, Arumus, you're a good kid, ya know?" He smiled.

"Who're you calling kid, kid?" Arumus smiled his small smile and stood to leave.

He pushed his hair out of his eyes and glanced around the Great Hall. He spotted Severus at the head table, and their eyes met. Arumus nodded respectfully, and the fleeting thought of how the smile had transformed Severus' face the previous night crossed his mind. Severus blinked, and Arumus thought he saw his mouth twitch just so, as if he had caught the thought and an echo of the memory. Arumus broke eye contact and turned, exiting the hall and making his way toward Greenhouse 1 for Herbology with the Gryffindor.

Arumus was distracted, thinking of the amazing possibilities his lessons with Severus would offer, until he realized that Professor Sprout had asked them to form groups of three. Nearly everyone else had joined a group, and Arumus glanced around, looking for partners. Two Gryffindor girls approached him shyly, and he remembered them from previous classes. Ginny Weasley was the one with red hair, and Matilda Hopkurk had brown hair.

"Hello." Ginny said. "Do you want to be in our group, Arumus?"

"I'd be happy to work with you both," He replied. "Ginny and Matilda, right?"

"Yeah," Ginny smiled and began pulling pots from under the table. Matilda nodded emphatically.

Arumus noticed that Ginny seemed more pale and less energetic than she had in the last few classes. He stooped to help her with the pots. Matilda didn't say much, simply giggling in annoying way when she glanced at Arumus. He met Ginny's eye and rolled his own skyward. Ginny caught his meaning and nodded. She seemed levelheaded from what he knew of her, though he had overheard Draco claiming that she had a crush on Harry Potter, but that could mean anything coming from him. Draco truly enjoyed gossip, and according to him, it didn't necessarily need to be true.

"So do you like Gryffindor?" Arumus asked. As he had little contact with Gryffindors in general, he was curious.

"Oh yeah, I'm with four of my brothers in the same house. It's fun. But how about you? You seem nice, so I wouldn't think you'd be in Slytherin..." She paused, reddening slightly. "I mean, no offense, but..."

Arumus allowed that small smile, answering, "Not all Slytherins are bad, you know. Just a few loud ones give us a bad name. Really, I like Slytherin, but you have to keep an open mind. For instance, if you keep the prejudice out of it, you might even begin to rethink things. Many Slytherins don't like McGonagall or Sprout because of their houses. Most everybody in Slytherin likes Professor Snape, but few outside our house do. It's just that we divide things along house lines without thinking."

Ginny looked thoughtful, but Matilda simply giggled again.

They began repotting their plants, and Ginny said disbelievingly, "Do you really like Professor Snape?"

Arumus said, "Well, yes. He's brilliant. A bit like an impatient, more overtly aggressive Dumbledore, if you think about it from a Gryffindor standpoint."

"Really?" Ginny seemed surprised.

"Yeah. He just gets angry when student don't listen, and he has a different way of teaching. He expects people to listen beyond his tone and manner and... Well, he expects them to take the information without getting all emotional about things." Arumus felt strange discussing something so obvious.

Ginny frowned before answering. "That actually makes sense," She said. "You know, Arumus, you are really..." she seemed to be searching for the word.

"Cute!" said Matilda, giggling.

Arumus shot Matilda an annoyed look and fiddled with the plant he was potting.

"No. I think 'perceptive' was the word I wanted." Ginny shook her head discreetly at Matilda.

"Why, thank you, Ginny." Arumus said. "That's really thoughtful."

"And you are really polite." She smiled.

Arumus smiled back, mostly with his eyes. He thought Ginny was, perhaps, the first person who had ever said that to him without some weird innuendo. "Hmm." He paused. "You're really polite, too. Thanks for not calling me cute." He spoke the last sentence in a whisper meant only for her ears.

"Welcome."

They continued potting plants in a comfortable silence, occasionally broken by Matilda's giggles.

After Herbology followed Charms with tiny Professor Flitwick and the Ravenclaws, where they were beginning Hover Charms. Arumus avoided Janus, who was trying to catch his eye, and sat next to Luna Lovegood. She had fine blonde hair, and her large, silver eyes continually seemed surprised.

"Hello, Arumus," Luna said dreamily.

"Hello, Luna." He glanced around and noticed that the seat on his other side was available, so he set down is bag to block anyone from taking it, hoping Janus wouldn't decide to move.

"Why did you do that?" Luna asked, pointing to his bag.

"I'm discouraging the presence of anyone who thinks that calling me 'cute' is ok."

"Oh. Well I don't think you are cute, exactly." Luna said, smiling. "I might call you coolly intelligent or kindly but crafty, but I don't think you're cute." She said this perfectly reasonably, but Arumus just stared at her in wonder.

"Thanks, Luna. You really know how to make a kid feel better." His eyes smiled at her.

"See, that's very cool, you know. Most people use their mouths to smile, but you always use your eyes." She copied him in her way, keeping her mouth naturally straight but laughing with her eyes. This actually managed to dissipate the dream-like daze usually present surrounding her, though it did manage to make her look a bit too intense.

Arumus' mouth twitched. "I think it's a good look for you, too, Luna. You can pull my brand of cool off well."

"Oh, no. I don't do it the same, you see." She spoke with an honesty that caused Arumus to wonder how much time she had spent before the mirror actually practicing. Well, he understood that particular eccentricity.

Luna continued to explain. "My eyes are too happy. You've always got plans swirling around upstairs. I can tell because you always look like you want to share some big joke, but you know no one will understand it if you do..." She trailed off, smiling vaguely.

Sometimes, Arumus wondered if she said things like that to deliberately unsettle people. He always found her perspective refreshing, even if he wasn't sure whether she was joking or serious. He thought that Luna sometimes regarded reality as a joke. That was what he liked about her, though he thought he would have gone mad had he been placed in Ravenclaw.

They turned their attention to Professor Flitwick, who stood on a stack of books and demonstrated the hover charm, Wingardium Leviosa, speaking clearly and flicking his wrist expertly. They were supposed to levitate feathers.

Arumus turned to watch Luna attempt the charm. She got it on the fourth try, and Arumus had to hand it to her--she was bright.

"Why don't you try it?" She invited.

"Sure." He flicked his wand without thought, once again failing to use the verbal spell. The feather floated about a foot off the table. He chided himself.

"Oooh, that was nice..." Luna looked impressed, but she didn't say anything about the nonverbal. Sometimes, he really liked Luna's disconnection with reality. It made some things so much easier.

"You should try it. Just think the action and words together instead of saying them. It takes a bit more concentration, but I bet you can do it." Arumus said.

"You think?" She flicked her wand ineffectually a few times. "I'll practice. You must've practiced for a long time to do that..."

He thought for a moment. He had been practicing spells illegally for years before Hogwarts, using his aunt or uncle's wands, but he had only been performing nonverbals since he was ten. Still, he supposed he had practiced for a long time. "Yeah, I did," He said simply.

Professor Flitwick came by and they both performed the spell. This time Arumus said it aloud.

"Very good, very good..." Flitwick said. He leaned covertly toward them as if giving suggestions, saying, "I saw the nonverbal, Arumus. Very nice. You have a presence behind the wand, so keep it up. You did very well, Luna, one of the first to levitate the feather, so take five points for Ravenclaw. Arumus, take five points for Slytherin for sheer nerve." Professor Flitwick moved on, offering advice to those who failed and smiles to those who succeeded.

Arumus watched Luna continue practicing the spell until she succeeded every time. She looked up at him and did her cool impression again, her eyes laughing, and he returned her smile in kind.
- 13
- 14
- 15
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Golden Hearts