Chapter Text
He was alone in the woods when it happened to him. He had just escaped from the traveling circus, and he had nowhere to go. He was afraid that he might die in those woods, in the dark, all alone - but anything was preferable to staying in that cage they’d put him in.
But an owl alighted on the branch just above him, an envelope in her beak, and his life was changed forever.
Things were different for him at school. Better, in very many ways. His face was still an anomaly, but he was more well received here. He wore a mask, even still, and vowed that he when he was older and more powerful he would find a transfiguration spell to finally look normal.
The other students in his house were polite to him, for the most part, trusting that the Sorting Hat had known what it was doing and that looks could be deceiving. He showed an aptitude for a great many skills that earned the respect of his housemates - but Erik was well aware that respect and friendship were two very different things.
She was in an empty church when it happened to her. It was late evening and the only light besides the single candle she had lit was the moon shining in through the stained glass window. Her father had been gone for a year at that point, yet the pain and loneliness were still unbearable.
When the owl landed in front of her, she almost thought that it was the Angel her departed father had promised to send. Perhaps, in a way, it was.
Erik watched from his place on the bench as the new students lined up to be sorted. It was the start of his second term at Hogwarts, and the first sorting ceremony he had seen besides his own.
A girl with bright eyes and dark brown curls sat down on the stool and looked up curiously at the Hat was placed on her head.
Erik swallowed hard, crossing his fingers. She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, and he desperately hoped she’d be sorted into Slytherin just like him.
She closed her eyes, whispering something only the Hat could hear. After a moment her eyes fluttered open in surprise, and she shook her head a little. She glanced up again, a few more words formed on her lips.
“Gryffindor!” the Hat announced.
Erik sank down on the bench, disappointed. He had hoped that the two of them might become friends, but now it looked like it was never meant to be.
He saw her every now and then around the school. They had no classes together, being in different years, but he found he longed to see her all the same. Every so often, his wish was granted.
He saw at her Quidditch matches and on field trips, sometimes in Hogsmead. He watched her from afar for a shamefully long time - two full years of longing and hoping. She always seemed to be surrounded by friends. He always seemed to be alone. He wanted nothing more than to go up and talk to her, but he was terrified that her gaggle of friends would laugh at him, and she was never without them.
It was the Yule Ball that year. Erik was in his fourth year, and able to attend. Christine would only be able to attend if someone older asked her. It was a foolproof plan, wasn’t it?
He finally saw her sitting all by herself under a large tree. He couldn’t believe his luck. He gathered his courage - he was going to ask her to the Ball. Surely she would say yes - wouldn’t she leap at the chance to go, even if it was with him?
His luck ran out. A fourth year Gryffindor boy approached her before Erik could reach her. He leaned against the tree with an easy air that would never be Erik’s. Christine’s face lit up as she nodded vigorously. She sprang up and hugged the boy, who laughed.
“Oh, thank you Raoul!”
Her voice floated to Erik on the breeze.
“I can’t wait to go to the Ball with you!”
Erik froze in his tracks before turning around and leaving. Honestly, what had he been thinking?
Erik did end up attending the Yule Ball, if for no other reason than to hide in the corner and make himself sick with pining. Christine was so lovely in her long purple and pink dress, and he hated how handsome Raoul looked in his suit. Life wasn’t fair. It was a lesson he had thought he’d learned a long time ago, but it never ceased to amaze and bewilder him even still.
He avoided going back to the dormitory that evening, opting to sit in the Forbidden Forest and cry into his hands instead. He would never be friends with Christine Daaé, let alone anything else. He let that truth sink deep into his bitter soul. No one would ever truly love him. But - people could love his magic. That, at least, was a real possibility.
He had always been a studious young lad, but from that day forward he threw himself into his studies, advancing at a great rate. Christine Daaé who? All he cared about was magic and music and the ways the two could be combined.
Little did he realize at the time that this would be the very thing that drew him closer to Christine after all.