Golden Boy

He was about to get up and shut the door because of that thought. Part of him wanted to just curl up and wither away, but he had one last class he had to get up and teach after the lunch hour, and it wasn’t in him to just roll over like that. He would take his draft, and he would be on his feet again in no time. Hopefully, though, he wouldn’t be back in this office again. He peeked out of the door and chuckled quietly to himself to see the nurse running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get Pepperup potions around to all of the students. It hadn’t been the same without Madame Pompfrey around, tutting and fussing over everyone at once. It was all coughs and sniffles outside of the office, but Aston didn’t think it would come into his little bubble there. He was fidgeting in his seat like a little child when the soft footfalls approached him; it almost startled him when the feet came into his view. His eyes naturally followed up toward the face of the student, catching the blue lining his cloak -the emblem of the raven on the left side of the chest. The student looked utterly pathetic with his red eyes, running nose, and flushed cheeks. A small smile cracked over Aston’s lips as he leaned himself back, hands folded against his lower stomach. “Oh, hello— ….I’m sorry, I don’t believe that I caught your name.” The professor peeked around the other, staring at the nurse as she kept flitting from student to student to make sure they stayed okay, that the potion was working. “It seems she’s tied up at the moment, but…” Aston winced as he sat up, so he took a moment before slowly letting his voice ebb out once more, “I…think she has some back here.” He stood very, very slowly before making his way toward the small cauldron at the back of the office. “I honestly know nothing about potions, but…take some, yeah.” He paused to rub his nose a little bit before chuckling, “Don’t get me sick, either.”

"Oh my name's Nathan, sir." He forgot that there were teachers that would have no idea who he was due to the fact the'd never taught him. Still, this was one of the first occasions this year in which he'd had to introduce himself. It might have been considered rude for Nathan to ask Aston what he was in the hospital wing for but he was curious and even more so when the man appeared to struggle with standing up. He shuffled a little closer, thinking he ought to have offered to help. 

"I am glad I asked you." He said with every attempt to sound chirpy through his blocked nose as wanted to come across as friendly in response to Fairfax's unhesitating assistance. "Luckily, I know a thing or two about potions. I think I've actually got an empty flask in my bag." He replied and started to dig around hid leather satchel, eventually pulling out an empty glass bottle with a screw on top. "I'm going to need lots of this stuff if I'm going to fight away this cold." Nathan spoke as if getting rid of a runny nose where some remarkable feat. In a way it was for him.

"Don't worry, Sir, I'll not come too close. You don't want another reason to be hanging around here. It's not the finest place in the castle to spend your time." Nathan said with a smile, seeing if the man would be willing to partake in a little small talk.

Nodding along with Nathan, the younger boy kept quiet. It felt more patronizing than helpful. It sounded just so…. Normal. Isaac knew though it wasn’t. Hell, it wasn’t like he was popular. Well known. While Nathan had been trying to give sincere advice, he didn’t feel too much like it applied to him. He wanted this to work out. Whatever it was with Hugo. Honestly, Isaac didn’t feel like this chance would come up again, for him at least. He wanted to squeeze every bit out of this as he could. Isaac gave his friend a fake smile, hiding his doubts.

"At least it's Sunday tomorrow." Nathan attempted to say but was rudely interrupted by his body deciding to yawn again. His speech turned into something not dissimilar to what he imagined to mating call of a hippopotamus would sound like. He couldn't even be bothered to cover his mouth and gave Isaac a full view of his tonsils and he sat there with eyes closed and mouth open for about three seconds. He was still impressed that he'd managed to perform the difficult job of contracting the right muscles in order to stand up. He was amazed at his own skill, it wasn't as if standing up was something he'd been doing for sixteen years.

The boy shifted his weight from the left to the right as the older Ravanclaw slowly removed himself from Albus’ bed. The snarl that was presented on his lips earlier was still there. It probably wouldn’t disappear anytime soon.  A snickered escaped his lips as the other stumbled on his words. If he was trying to intimidate him, he wasn’t doing to grand of a job. “Yes, very. I’d prefer if we kept it that way.” Albus felt sorry for the older student. Sure, all Ravenclaws liked to believe that they were quick and clever, but it didn’t mean all were. This fell true for the blonde hair boy in front of him.

“Your boo?” Albus arched a brow as he scanned over his face. As far as Albus was concerned, he wasn’t even involved with that many people to begin with, so he was totally lost as to what Nathan was talking about.  “Zinky? Wait, you talking about Zinnia? Well if you two are just in fact platonic, then I don’t see why you have a problem with me talking to her. But don’t worry, you don’t need to waste your breath on giving me the talk. I have a younger sister if you forgot, I know how this whole thing works.” Albus rolled his eyes. He honestly couldn’t deal with people like Nathan today. He just didn’t have the patience.  “Well that’s not going to change my mind about her… Just thought you ought to know that.”

Not wanting to stay and have any more vacuous conversations with Albus, Nathan began to walk backwards towards the door while still facing him. He allowed his irrational and unfounded irritation at the other boy surface just enough to release a sarcastically charged, "See you later, Alby" escape his lips. He was then even more annoyed at himself for not controlling his tongue and allowing that unnecessary comment to pass. Shame and resentment built up inside him. He needed to get out of this room where he didn't belong. He wanted to get away from the person who least made him feel comfortable. Maybe a long bath in the prefect's bathroom would help him to feel better and gather his thoughts to avoid these unneeded scenarios but he simply didn't have the time; he'd already wasted five minutes on this pointless accusation.

Another sip of her now lukewarm coffee. Her ever-lasting glance made her feel slightly uncomfortable, uneasy, though still more bearable than stares of multiple people at once. She cast her eyes down at the table and counted the knot-holes in the wood as she was listening. His nervous laugh was like a release, the tension in her stomach vanished. Dora looked up again and managed a chuckle as well. “No, don’t sorry. I don’t mind at all.” In fact - apart from the serious staring - she found his previous words quite interesting. Being clueless about her future herself she loved to hear about other students’ plans. With her grades she could have easily gained an internship at the ministry but she just didn’t know if that was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. So she inquired further. “What is it that you want to do after graduation?” she asked with pursed lips.

Nathan’s story was different than what she had expected. Dora had been aiming at fun, light-hearted stories of pranks between friends but not something as heavy and seemingly burdensome as this. She could have laughed or at least grinned, yet she didn’t - her lips as thin as paper. This was a funny story but all stories can be funny unless you are the victim. This honesty hit her unexpected. “Sounds quite rude to me.” she began slowly. “I mean, it’s good that you grew with the experience. You made something good out of something bad in a way but still, I’m sorry this happened to you.” Nobody ever said this to her. Because she never told anybody about her own history of bullying. But Dora felt the need to at least tell him whether he needed it or found her strange for attaching so much meaning to it. In some way she looked up to him now. 

Having swallowed his last gulp of coffee, Nathan was not feeling fully refreshed and in a thoroughly better mood. Continuing to twiddle his fingers around the mug's handle, he tore his gaze away from Dora and looked round at some of the plants in the room. No matter what his mother had taught him, staring into somebody's eyes because super creepy after too long and he didn't want Dora to think he was trying out mind control on her or something like that. He pondered her question, usually he tailored his response to these sorts of inquiries depending on who had asked him but he didn't know Dora well enough to work out what sort of answer would please her the most. There he was. At it again. Trying to impress people. "I'm going to see if there's any unpaid work I can do at the ministry or anywhere political really. From what I hear you have to work for free to gain experience in these areas so I might look for a job in retail to support me. Maybe something on Diagon Alley or just a regular muggle shop. Something in London though so I can live at home for the next year." He didn't think this answer was too shabby. "I've heard you're into dancing, is that... I mean d'you have a future in that area in mind?" He felt a bit silly asking this in case he was completely incorrect. Being incorrect was something nobody liked, especially not Nathan.

"Honestly, I think I must have been more dramatic than I could have been there. It really wasn't that bad. You can laugh about it if you want." He reassured her about that little story he'd just told. "Boys will be boys." He added quietly as an afterthought. "But hey, aren't you glad we're past all of that juvenile behavior now?" 

Aston could feel pain slowly growing from a single point on the left side of his head, on the top, six hair follicles large. It was a series of slow, pulsing ripples making him sway where he stood in front of the class. His vision suddenly turned, and he gently touched the edge of his desk. He needed something to anchor himself to or else he very well could have tipped over. The professor didn’t realize that he had been out of it for several seconds trying to get a handle on this onslaught of pain and had only been alerted to that fact when a student spoke up. The voice, however, sounded too far away to Aston. It almost sounded as if it were coming from underwater.

"Professor…are you alright?"

All Aston could do was crack a lopsided grin before standing fully erect once more. “Yeah, Albie; just a bit of a head rush, I think. Too much sugar in my coffee, perhaps.” With a chuckle, and a gentle clap of his hands, he muttered, “Brilliant.” Most of the time he could plow through the headaches, but it was getting a bit harder the longer he kept teaching. Slowly his defenses were cracking. He was a trooper, though. He would keep fighting until there was nothing left of him. He loved his students far too much to give up on them. So the question as to why he kept teaching had never even crossed his mind. The professor made himself a mental note to nip round to the infirmary after class.

It seemed to drag on far too long for him. Since the onslaught of his blossoming headache, Aston’s demeanor had changed considerably (a fact that did not go unnoticed in his students). The pain had become almost unbearable, so he muttered out a quick apology and grabbed his bag. The professor had cut class almost fifteen minutes early. He moved swiftly through the halls to the infirmary (or as swiftly as his body would allow without making the pain worse). Ducking into the doors, he shouted out, “Help! This is maddening.” Beside the head nurse’s desk was a chair that Aston had jokingly deemed his own and found himself perfectly at home just to plop into it. “I need my draft…” His voice had come out much weaker than he had intended it to.

Making his way towards the infirmary was verging on embarrassing for Nathan; he couldn't remember the last time he'd had to come or if indeed he'd ever ventured to this part of the castle before. Each step he took gave him a ringing in his ears and it was hard to see where he was going with his eyes watering. Eventually he made it to the wooden double doors at the end of the corridor that he pushed open and slipped inside. It was warm inside which Nathan was glad of, he'd been shivering inside that chilly classroom. Or maybe the classroom wasn't chilly and his internal body temperature measurements were not functioning well, it was hard to tell. 

It dawned on him that he had no idea how to go about asking for the remedy that he required, he looked around the room for someone he might be able to ask but the only person he recognized was Professor Fairfax. The man didn't teach him, nor had he ever taught him since Nathan had avoided all forms of divination like the plague. His ignorance on the subject had lead him to the childish opinion that Arithmancy was all bullshit but of course he wasn't going to voice that here to the Arithmancy professor. "Good afternoon, Sir." He said trying to be polite, thinking that he sounded ridiculous with a blocked nose. "Do you, er, know where they keep the Pepperup potion or do you think I'll have to ask someone to get some for me." He asked the older male sheepishly, moving a little closer to him so he didn't have to speak loudly and disrupt the other patients in the room.

"Yes they are. They’re just…… Godric they all look amazing." He agreed. "They make me wish I could uh, get kissed a little bit more." Isaac giggled. It was true for him. Ever since he’d really come into noticing the other boys he’d wanted something like he’d always seen on the tv at home. The cute little cheesy romances they displayed in the shows and movies. At least a little bit. Though he always knew none of the other boys weren’t as interested in him as he was them. That was okay though. He was content by himself. Every now and then.

Talking romance with Isaac was fun but he'd made a deal with himself at the start of the term that this year would be free of romantic partners. He could do without the distraction, a whole other person to deal with would be too much for him. Besides, all his previous relationships had fallen a little flat. "You'll get kissed plenty... I-I'm sure" He said causually, flapping his hand at his friend dismissively. "This kid at the moment is just the first in a long line of guys who you'll kiss, don't worry about it." He said, rather dispassionately. 

"Seven years of fun..wow. I think i’d like that…Unfortunately we all have to grow up at some point and the adults decided we’ll grow up sooner rather than later." Veronica already felt like a grown up sometimes. She was being asked to plan out her future a;ready by her parents and it was the last thing she wanted to do. "I’ll try to make it to a game, but I make no promises."

"Time is running out, Ve! There's only so many Quidditch matches left to come and watch and you don't want to regret not seeing us thrash every other house out there." He teased her with a grin, not so confident in himself and the team as he pretended he was.

Placing his thumb over the opening of the vial, he shook the water and growth potion together vigorously until he was sure it was thoroughly combined. Then he began to sprinkle the mixture carefully around the base of the plant as instructed. "Yours is prettier than mine." He complained, "I mean purple and green are fantastic complementary colours. Of course I would know about this, being an interior designer." He joked as he emptied his vial. "So is that it?"

  The brunette didn’t understand why he tried to distance himself from her all of the time. He had said they could still be friends when she asked if they could break up, and he agreed. But it’s not like it was her plan. It was a Quidditch thing, and they told her she had to if she wanted to be the seeker, a +1 from her chaser position, she couldn’t be in a relationship with her opponent. At that point, it was important to her, so she went along with it…and here they were. Gemma just wished he would talk to her again. Because truth be told, she still felt something for him; whether it was platonic or not, she wasn’t sure.

Normally he would shrug her off every time she wanted to talk to him, but she wouldn’t let that happen this time. “It’s just Ancient Runes, though,” she furrowed her brow, “it can’t be that hard.” But what did she know? She didn’t even take that class. “And besides, class is almost over. Let’s sneak out and play a bit of Quidditch!”

She gave him a pout as she rested her head on his shoulder and played with the corner of his parchment. Her small hands fingered the paper and she batted her eyes, her eyelashes like whips due to their long length. “Pleaaaase?” She tried this all the time when they were together, and from what she remembered, it worked, but she might have only remembered those times because it worked.

Eventual tearing his eyes away from his book, Nathan just stared at her for a bit before standing up and shutting his book with his vocabulary list inside. Gemma may make him feel uncomfortable but the girl sure knew how to get something she wanted. He'd been a little offended at her comment about it being just ancient runs but he supposed he felt that way about many subjects he had no interest in. When she nuzzled up against him and gave him those eyes, he really could never say no! He felt like he owed her it, just this once, for all those other times he'd refused and been an ass to her. They were both more than capable on the Quidditch pitch and seemed to have a fair bit in common. It'd seemed at the time that these factors would constitute a base for a good romantic relationship but he guessed they were wrong.

He just wanted to smack that smirk clear off his face, but he decided against it. With an annoyed look Albus rolled his eyes. He really didn’t feel up to this right this moment, but he knew there was no way out of it. So he took a step forward and closed the door. He made his way over to the boy and folded his arms as he looked down to him. It was funny because Albus had always looked down to him in more than one way. He hardly had any respect for him, and this was one of the reasons why. “Merlin, I knew you were mental, but I didn’t think you were this much. You’re clearly off your rocker if you think I’d want anything associated to you. Mind telling me what exactly you think I took from you. You know, just so I know what I took.” He shook his head as he gave him a look of disgusting. “I suggest  you get your ass of my bed mate.”

Sliding slowly off the bed, Nathan got to his feet and looked at Albus with a blank expression now. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak but no words came to him. "My, um, my ass is off your bed now, happy?" He finally muttered, awkwardly. His messy brain was screwing him over in all sorts of situations these days. This was probably the biggest mistakes to date though. Still thinking of something to say to answer; something utterly ridiculous sprung to mind.

"You actually stole my boo." He said, raising his eyebrow and nodding. "Yeah, Zinky is mine, you know, in the most platonic way possible but still we are best friends for ever and I just think you should know that if you hurt her then you'll have me to answer to." He tried his best to sound threatening but he didn't convince himself. "Just thought you ought to know that." He added, with a little bit of a frown and moved suddenly in towards Albus before backing away. He had no idea what possessed him to make that up but it was too late now. Zinnia was in not his 'boo' at all.

His shot at her sex life, however, did elicit a response. Another dirty look was shot in his direction before she looked at her own paper, trying to think of the best way to spew her feelings onto the page. 'As if you're aware what an orgasm feels like. Can't imagine many would want to sleep with you unless you kept your pretty mouth shut from the very beginning'.  It was a bit of a sore spot for her, feeling too ugly to touch. While she felt an intense need, she refused any advances people attempted because she knew what they would say the second they saw her body. 

That kind of rejection would be a bit too much for her. But no one else needed to know that.

His virginity was not something Nathan was at all concerned about, he didn't mind Zink teasing him for it. Having dunked the nibs of his quill in the pot of black ink on his desk, he began to write on this new platform of communication.

The younger boy nodded in a way that suggested a fake deep admiration. Mocking the stereotype of a professor. It was hard to keep a straight face, and it cracked continuously with a snort or smile of some sort. “I see it actually as more of a lip-cha-cha-slide. Slide in the tongue.” He grinned. Isaac shook his head at his friend with a smile. “Nope. While they have pretty lips, I uh, hm….. That’s hard to describe.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s their hard on point two seconds after the kiss begins? I like uh, well you know.” The younger eagle gestured to his friend’s crotch and blushed. His voice cracked a bit as he said, “Is it w-weird kissing girls?”

"All lips are pretty don't you think?" Nathan found people physically attracted of people irregardless of their sex, he'd known that for a while now. However when it came to their personalities, he couldn't work out quite where his romantic attractions lay. "And yes I know you like the D, we've had that conversation, I get it." He laughed at Isaac's little cute gesture and his blush, he didn't mind at all though. They'd got to that point where barely anything could make them feel uncomfortable around each other. "It's not weird kissing girls. It's fun, for me anyways but I know that everyone's wired differently."

Dora wiggled her head and wrinkled her nose thinking about the conversation after her decision to drop Herbology for the last two years. “Well, he was a tiny bit sad about it but he has no more ill-feelings against me because of that.” Sure, he would have preferred her in his class but he had understood where his daughter was coming from. Plants didn’t fascinate her as much as other things and Neville only wanted students in his class who liked it and not only used it for easy credit.

"No, we don’t." she said before laughing loudly. Her hair fell into her face and she had to tug it behind her ear again. Growing up with a sister resulted in Dora being sort of estranged to the prank culture of boys among themselves. Hence she found the imagination of it quite amusing, more than others might have. "But I’m happy for you. The imagination of talking to a noseless is kind of disturbing." These words came out with laughs placed between the words but she caught herself then again. Only a broad grin remained. "What kind of things did happen to you then?"

Dora nodded and set her cup down again. “It’s an unlucky coincidence then that the two of us got stuck together.” A apologetic smile flashed on her lips. “But still, I’m glad you’re here. Definitely better company than the plants and that’s coming from a Longbottom.” It was a lame compliment actually but Dora wanted to tell him she was grateful for his company, more than that she enjoyed herself. The wait would’ve been far more boring without Nathan.

He looked up at Dora, not a glance but a constant eye contact. This was supposedly how adults were meant to have conversations, instead of looking at the floor when they spoke, or so he'd been told by his father. "Ah that's good, I'd hate to feel pressured into doing something I didn't particularly want to. I mean I guess I'm taking History even though I don't particularly want to but that's because I have to do it because of what I want to do after school so I guess that's different." He knew that slowly he was returning to his normal state after the battering he had taken earlier that afternoon. The coffee was helping his perk up a little as well. "Sorry if I'm talking to quickly." He laughed nervously, he didn't like to feel dorky around girls.

"Oh in our second year there was this group of cool kids at the top of the school who were always throwing their weight around. I don't think they meant to cause me as much trouble as they did, maybe they just thought I could take the 'banter' or whatever. They'd put those dancing hexes or something on me when they saw me in the corridor so I'd arrive at my lesson unable to cease from doing an Irish gig." He remembered how embarrassing it had been that year for him. "I think I let it get to me more than I should but I'm sort of glad it happened. I'd say I'm less up tight about things anymore, how people judge me and what not." He felt his cheeks go warm as he was talking, it wasn't often he talked about his feelings with people he didn't consider to be best friends. Still looking at Dora however, he smiled. He didn't feel they were stuck together as she put it. He wouldn't have stayed if she hadn't asked him to. Still, he was glad that he had.