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Shiro wandered the halls of the stone castle aimlessly. The draperies lining the wall hardly countered the draft of the school. He wrapped his striped scarf tighter around his neck.
He usually loved the holidays.
The smell of the potions in the hallways, the floating candles in the dining hall; Even the ghosts got into the holiday spirit, throwing swags of decorative pine at students in their paths. Peeves took a special liking to this time of year, often using a tricky piece of mistletoe to coax gullible students.
But this year was different from him. To sum it up, it had been hell.
With the muggle population becoming increasingly aware of the presence of magic in the world, there had been a few spontaneous witch hunts aimed towards eliminating the use of it. The objective was never to harm, the muggles claimed, just to “strongly encourage” people to not use magic. Unfortunately, their form of encouragement involved violent tactics: burning houses, flipping cars, picketing. Worse for Shiro, his parents had been chased out of their home a week after he left for school. A bad start to his last year, to say the least.
He focused his attention on the corridor ahead of him. It was dark, brisk, and empty, save for the occasional first-year, hustling through the halls with their robes drawn tightly around them. The cool air rarely bothered Shiro anymore, but this year felt strangely different. The usual cheer in the air was gone, sucked dry like a holiday vacuum, leaving hurried students and hollow halls of hallows.
The library was Shiro’s target. He had a paper to write and not much time. It was already well overdue, but his professors were sympathetic given his familial situation. The tall oak doors opened easily with a wave of his wand. He settled into a chair in the library, the first he saw, and began working.
It was a boring essay, one about the importance of something called “quintessence” in potions (he had no idea what it was, but according to the books, it was very important and very dangerous), and certainly not his best piece of work. Muscling through the essay had proven to be much more difficult than he’d imagined. In between sentences, his mind found the time to wander and stray down dark paths, tripping over thorny briars of despair and falling through holes in his logical reasoning. By the time he’d managed to reign it back in, he’d lost his train of thought.
But all that had passed; his essay was done. The growling in his stomach, on the other hand, was not. In fact, it’d just begun, much to his dismay. After exploring the dark depths of his mind, he wanted nothing more than to crawl back into his warm bed and sleep for the remaining days of Christmas break.
As he passed through the kitchen towards the Hufflepuff commons, he spotted a figure behind him in the reflection of a copper pan. Wand drawn, Shiro spun around quickly. The boy behind him jumped back in shock, upsetting a stack of cooking trays and sending them toppling to the ground. The nearby house elves glared at Shiro for this disruption, but helped the boy to his feet. Shiro hurried towards him and flashed an apologetic smile towards the elves. He then quickly ushered the boy through the arches into the Hufflepuff common room.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked, shutting the door behind him.
The boy shifted in his robes. “You dropped this,” he said, pulling a quill out from his long sleeve.
Shiro took the quill and examined it in his hand. “No, I didn’t. My quills have black notches in the shaft. Nice try, though,” he said hastily, thrusting it back into his hands and turning him towards the door.
“No, no, wait, I-I,” he stuttered, shuffling back and forth. His knees quivered and buckled slightly, practically shaking.
Shiro reluctantly pulled him back into the room and sat him on one of the bumblebee-yellow couches.
“Get comfortable, darling, because you’re not leaving anytime soon,” he sighed as he threw a pillow towards him. “Let’s start this inquisition with something easy: What’s your name?”
“Keith,” the boy responded, settling into the couch’s velvety soft fabric. “I’m a sixth year.”
“Good, good! I’m Takashi...er… Shiro. I’m a seventh year.”
“Nice to meet-”
“Why were you following me?”
“I- What?”
“Why- were- you- following- me?” Shiro repeated slowly.
“Well… it wasn’t my intention,” Keith admitted. “It’s gonna sound so stupid when I say it out loud… but...”
He dropped his head and Shiro noticed his shoulders begin to shake. He shifted closer to him, gently wrapping his arm around Keith. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna laugh, or anything like that. Just talk to me, okay?” Shiro comforted. Keith hesitated, but nodded and continued.
“I was being chased.” Shiro cocked his head in slight shock but motioned for Keith to go on. “These two Ravenclaws were harassing some first years, so of course, being the Gryffindor that I am , I just had to swoop in and stick up for them. Except...” he trailed off.
“...Except?”
“Except they stole my wand and chased me to the library.”
“Oh.”
“See, I told you it was stupid. I just didn’t-”
“No, no, it’s not stupid. You’re okay, Keith. But how’d you end up in the kitchen?”
“That’s where things get… hinky,” Keith half-laughed.
“O-oh?” Shiro asked, a tinge of suspicion in his voice.
“I just… didn’t know what to do. Honestly, I was looking for one of my other friends- he’s a Hufflepuff too- and I saw you in the library, and then I saw your robes, and then I thought that ‘Oh, maybe I’ll just sneak in with this guy and find Hunk’, and now I just feel… dumb.”
Shiro smiled sympathetically. He knew Hunk from their frequent meetings in the common room.
“Hunk always knows what to do,” Keith smiled softly as he thoughtlessly examined the pillow in his arms, “But Hunk’s at home with his family. And I’m… not.”
“Why’s that?” Shiro asked cautiously.
“I… There’s no one for me to go back to,” Keith whispered, shuddering while tears formed in the corners of his eyes.
Shiro pulled Keith closer to him. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have ask-”
“No, you’re fine, you didn’t know. It-It’s nothing,” Keith assured Shiro, shaking loose from his arms.
“It’s not ‘nothing’, Keith-”
“It’s nothing,” the sixth year interrupted coldly, pain audible in his voice, practically jumping to his feet. “I should go. I don’t want to bother you any longer. Have a good day… night… whatever it is.”
“Keith, wait!” Shiro called after him as Keith walked briskly out of the common room and back through the kitchen. “Wait up!”
Keith hit the main hallway and began to pick up speed. Shiro felt like he was in an action movie, weaving through the few pedestrians in the halls chasing after a near-stranger. Through the many ever-changing halls, Shiro followed Keith like a game of cat and mouse. Keith was much faster, but Shiro had his way with the spirits in the halls, who were more than happy to find Shiro the fastest way.
The chase ended unexpectedly when two Ravenclaws intercepted Keith in an open stretch of hallway, tripping him and sending him flying into a wall. The two boys sneered, but turned their backs to Keith only to be faced by a new opponent- Shiro.
“Stupefy!” Shiro cried. A beam of yellow light shot out of his wand, stunning one of the boys and hurling him through the corridor. The other boy began to charge at Shiro, but before he could, he was pulled by his ankles, dragging him suddenly up towards the high ceilings of the castle. Shiro looked back at the wall to see Keith, dusting himself off casually. A clatter sounded as something hit the floor a moment later.
Shiro watched, both confused and delighted, as Keith strolled to the center of the room and grinned at the boy on the ceiling before picking up the wand and brandishing it proudly. He gave a small bow.
“Levicorpus- a nice choice,” Shiro nodded in approval and admiration. “And bonus points for no wand!”
“Being here over the holidays does have some advantages, I suppose,” Keith replied cheekily.
“Save for the crippling, over bearing loneliness, I’d have to say I agree!” Shiro chuckled.
“It’s not so lonely when you’re spending it with someone.”
“That is very true,” Shiro pondered briefly. “Say, what if I walk you back to your dorms? Just in case you find anymore treacherous Ravenclaws- or, heaven forbid, a Slytherin- along the way.”
“I’m not opposed to that idea,” Keith smiled. “Speaking of- what should we do with them?”
He gestured to the Ravenclaws- one of whom had begun to move, but was severely dazed, and the other who had all but given up on escaping the spell. Shiro shrugged.
“Take him down and the other find his way back, I guess.”
A slight malice spread across Keith’s smile. “Well in that case...”
The boy dropped from the ceiling, landing conveniently on his friend. The pair groaned and muttered curses under their breath as they stumbled away from the fight. Shiro rolled his eyes and Keith gave a knowing look.
“I know, I know- I should have just brought him down nice and slow.”
“I was actually going to say you probably should’ve wiped their memories before letting them go.”
Keith’s eyes widened for a second; He chased after them. A quick flash of pale crimson light later, he was back. Shiro doubled over, laughing heartily. Keith joined in. They toppled to the ground, exhausted and slightly hysterical.
Shiro looked up at the ceiling, then to Keith, who seemed to have fallen asleep. He smiled for a moment before standing up. He gently tapped Keith on the shoulder.
“Wake up, sleepyhead. Let’s get you back to your dorm,” Shiro said, helping him up.
Keith went jelly-legged and flopped back on the ground. “Too tired,” he grumbled.
“Fine, we’ll do it the hard way then!” Shiro signed, scooping Keith up bridal-style. Keith blushed profusely, but was more than happy to accept the gesture.
Shiro carried him to the entrance of the Gryffindor tower before carefully putting him down.
“Think you can get in all by yourself?” Shiro joked sarcastically.
Keith nodded. “I’ve been doing this for years- I’m a professional by now!”
He began to walk to the portrait, nearly hitting the adjacent wall in the process.
“I swear that I’ve done this before,” he reassured Shiro, who gave a pity smile before loudly smacking his forehead with his palm.
“Let’s do this again sometime!” Keith called from over his shoulder.
“What?”
“Y’know, this! Talk about life, run around the castle, get revenge on some ravenous Ravenclaws,” Keith grinned, his eyes glowing with hope.
“I think I’d like that,” Shiro smiled. “If you ever have the time and just wanna stop by, you know where to find me!”
The portrait swung shut as Keith scrambled through the hole in the wall. Shiro began the walk back to the Hufflepuff dormitories.
And as if by magic, the holidays didn’t seem quite so lonely anymore.