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Chuuya was sitting on the red couch in front of the fireplace, listening to the crackling sound of the wood getting consumed by the fire and to the rain falling outside.
It was already one in the morning ; he was the only one sitting in Gryffindor's common room. He had an exhausting day.
First, the transfiguration lesson went wrong : Someone accidentally turned him into a cat. The teacher had to correct this mess.
Then, during herbology, a weird plant bit him because he had to save a Hufflepuff from it. What was his name again ?...Kenji or something ?
And lastly, during care of magical creatures, a hippogriff stepped on him.
A fun day, as you can see.
His body was aching, but he contentedly sighed, finally able to take a rest.
He closed his eyes, ready to fall asleep on the couch. As he was about to join the arms of Morpheus, he heard the common room’s door open up.
He opened his eyes, wondering who it could be. He then looked behind himself, only to see…
“Hi Chuuya, did you miss me ?”
A brunet with a few plastic bags.
“Not in the slightest.” the redhead huffed, then looked at the fire again. The fact that Dazai, a Slytherin, managed to enter the Gryffindor common room wasn’t surprising at all.
Chuuya gave him the password and, even if he hadn't, the brunet would have guessed him himself anyway.
“How rude ! That’s not what you’re supposed to tell your boyfriend when he brings you medical care stuff !”
The Gryffindor looked at him again.
“Oh, is that what you’re carrying ?”
“Yeah. I figured it would be useful after everything you went through today.” he slightly chuckled and sat next to his lover.
“It really was the worst day ever.”
“Well, seeing you getting stepped on by a hippogriff was very entertaining !”
“Fuck you.”
“Yes, yes.” Dazai automatically said, used to his partner’s short temper. He rolled up the redhead’s sleeves and took his hands into his own, trying to see if there were any serious injuries.
“I’m fine, they already took care of me at the infirmary.” Chuuya tried to reassure him.
“Okay, good.” the Slytherin said, his eyes still focused on his boyfriend’s arms. “But keep the medicines I brought, yeah ?”
“Yeah, alright. Thank you, Osamu.”
“My pleasure, darling.” he softly replied, finally looking at the redhead without letting go of his hands. “I heard the Gryffindors gained many points thanks to you.”
“Yeah, because I saved that Kenji Miyazawa hufflepuff boy...I don’t get why we had to have this lesson with 14 year olds, it’s too dangerous for them.” he complained, putting his head against the couch’s back. “What are you staring at ?”
“Your face.”
“Why ?”
“Obviously because the chibi is very handsome.”
“Ugh, did you drink a love potion or something…” Chuuya softly laughed. “I was about to fall asleep before you came.”
“Sleep, then.”
“Don’t wanna anymore !” he groaned, and Dazai hummed.
“Let’s go outside.”
“Have you lost your mind shitty mackerel ?” he asked, unimpressed. “I don’t want to get caught.”
“Chuuya, love.” the brunet started, and the redhead already knew where it was leading to. “Did we ever get caught ?”
“...No, we didn’t.”
“I mean, if Chuuya’s body is too weak to go after everything that has happened, I won’t insist…”
The smaller student got up, rolling his sleeves back down and putting on his shoes.
“Huh ! Who are you taking me for ! I’m coming with you !”
“Ahh, Gryffindors, all stubborn idiots…” Dazai insulted, but his smile was saying it all : he loved the way Chuuya was, and would never change his personality.
“Where will we be going ?” he asked, watching the Slytherin get up.
The brunet didn’t reply right away, a smirk on his face. Chuuya raised an eyebrow, having a faint idea of what he was thinking of.
Dazai approached him, whispering to his ear :
“Let’s go to the Forbidden Forest.”
And see, any person with common sense would look at him as if he were crazy, completely out of his mind.
But Chuuya wasn’t any person. He didn’t care about Osamu’s strange and reckless ideas.
In fact, they’ve been in the Forbidden Forest a few times for fun. They never went too deep into it, though.
And to Dazai, it always felt strange that him and his lover were always so calm around each other despite the insane ideas.
The wizards’ world has always liked stories about destiny, fate, soulmates.
To the brunet, those were cheesy stories for hopeless romantics.
But, sometimes, while watching Chuuya doing the most basic things, while giving him any type of affection, while feeling so connected to him, maybe, just maybe , he did believe in these stories. Only a little bit.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea when there’s a storm…” the redhead slowly said, looking towards the window. “Let’s just avoid going too deep into the forest, I guess.”
Dazai nodded to show his agreement and put his shoes back on as well.
They went into the common room’s corridor and Chuuya put his ear against the door, to check if the painting outside was sleeping. The lady in the painting was snoring.
They very slowly opened the door, and closed it behind themselves, trying to be as quiet as possible.
The Gryffindor took his boyfriend’s hand into his and they started going downstairs, sometimes waiting for the stairs to come to them.
Sneaking out of Hogwarts wasn’t a difficult task to them anymore, they’ve done it so many times.
They both were almost 18, they’ve been here for many years already. They knew almost every corner of the school.
They went outside, but obviously not by the main entrance. They went where there was Hagrid’s hut. It was safer, and the quickest way to go to the Forbidden Forest.
The rain was very light, it wasn’t bothering them.
“The Forbidden Forest is kinda like a tiny Australia if we think about it.”
“Osamu...Don’t try to spook yourself.”
“Fine, fine.” he said with a pout. “Oh, talking about getting spooked, we should tell each other scary stories next to a fire again in the forest !”
“And invite Atsushi with us again.”
“Nah, he got traumatized, poor thing.” the brunet chuckled. “Sometimes I wonder why he’s in Gryffindor…”
“Don’t underestimate him. He’s actually one of the bravest dudes I’ve ever met.” Chuuya said, looking at the Slytherin that was walking in front of him. “We got out of a lot of trouble thanks to him.”
“That’s true. At first you might think he’s a Hufflepuff, but then…”
“His Patronus is a fucking white tiger dude ! There’s no doubt, he’s a Gryffindor.”
“What’s your Patronus again ?”
“Dude, how did you forget !” the redhead angrily asked. “It’s a Siberian lynx.”
“Ah, right ! I keep forgetting because it’s, surprisingly, not a dog ! But hey at least lynxes are pretty small compared to other big wild cats, so it still suits you !”
“You annoying fucker ! You have a white arctic wolf, literally a big dog.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Hah !” Chuuya smugly said, then started to softly laugh. “Apparently, arctic wolves are intelligent, good at communication and they care for their loved ones. It suits you.”
“I do care about you, that’s true.”
The redhead smiled at the statement.
“So you admit you’re a dog too.”
“Ah ! Here’s the forest !” Dazai quickly tried to change the subject, the other man’s chuckle echoeing in his head.
The dirt on the ground partially became mud because of the light rain and they could already smell the soft odour of wet pine trees coming from the forest.
A few weird noises were coming from the woods, but it was nothing unusual. They have always avoided going too far into the forest ; they were reckless, but not stupid.
Could that be considered a date ? Not really. It was mostly morbid curiosity and the need to break some rules together.
Don’t worry : When it comes to dates, they go to coffee shops and normal walks just like everyone else.
“I wonder if we’ll find anything interesting today…” the brunet spoke up, finally stepping inside of the forest, still followed by Chuuya.
“I don’t want to find another weird ass artefact like last time…”
Long story short : they found an old artefact that was keeping an evil spirit inside. They had to fight it and, thankfully, they managed to beat it without waking anyone up. It nearly broke the redhead’s wand.
“...Okay, no picking up weird objects that can kill us, gotcha.” Dazai agreed.
At the moment, nothing weird was happening. They were simply walking around as usual, observing the different plants and the few animals that were passing by. They were casually talking about tomorrow’s lessons and tests.
“I still don’t get how to make the potion…” Chuuya complained.
“Which one ?”
“The purple one, for anti-paralysis.”
“Ah, I don’t either. The teacher barely explained the processus and...Woah it’s pouring now !” the Slytherin almost yelled.
“Let’s try to stay under the trees and not move too much.” his lover said, gently grabbing his hand. “Come here, dumbass.”
They stayed under a large tree that was almost perfectly covering them from the rain. Sure, they could have tried to find a spell that would make some sort of umbrella, but it wasn’t fun that way.
Using magic for absolutely everything felt boring.
They both stayed silent, pressed against each other. After a while, Chuuya looked at his partner.
“Osamu ? Are you making this sound ?”
“What ? No, I actually wanted to ask you the same thing.”
“Huh, weird. Probably the rain is making weird sounds.”
They were in the safest zone of the forest, after all. What could go wrong ?
“Probably…” Dazai quietly said as they both fell silent again, trying to focus on the suspicious noise.
They slowly looked at each other, as if they were having a silent agreement.
They both looked behind the tree.
It felt like their blood stopped rushing through their bodies for a moment, both freezing on the spot.
An acromantula was right behind them.
And for those who may have forgotten what animal it is : It’s an enormous, terrifying spider.
It was directly looking at them.
No one was moving : the teenagers stayed as still as the acromantula.
“Maybe...It didn’t see us…” Chuuya slowly said and Dazai made a short sound of approval.
That’s how they stayed unmoving for another minute that seemed like an eternity, until the animal started running towards them.
They started running away, trying to reach their wands in the process.
“Fuck, where is it ?!” the brunet yelled, nervously searching through his pockets.
“Did you forget to take it ?! There’s no way I’m taking that thing down by myself !” he screamed back, already feeling out of breath because of their fast pace.
Thankfully, the creature was big, getting slowed down because of the trees. However, the couple was slowed down a few times as well because of the slippery ground.
They both kept checking behind themselves to see what distance there was between them and the acromantula.
Looking back was a stupid thing to do.
While they were glancing behind themselves, they didn’t notice the big slope in front of them.
“Shit, Osamu !” the redhead gasped, slightly pushing his lover to the other side so he wouldn’t crash against one of the trees. They both kept rolling down the slope and Chuuya quickly took his wand out of his pocket ;
“ Impedimenta !” he shouted while aiming at the spider, hoping for the spell to land on it. The incantation's use was to make the opponent freeze, so it would stop chasing you.
His eyes stayed on the monster and he let out a relieved sigh only when he saw the creature unmoving. They were falling at a fast pace, which widened the gap between them and the acromantula.
He glanced at Dazai and he could see he was trying to slow down a little. They were getting close to the end of the slide.
“I’m sorry, Levicorpus !” he yelled again, aiming the spell at the Slytherin this time.
It caused the brunet to get lifted up in the air by his ankle, leaving him upside down. It was to help him stop falling.
Chuuya managed to slightly slow down during his downfall and he ended in a big pile of leaves. He mumbled Liberacorpus, which was the spell to cancel the one he just casted on Dazai.
He heard quick steps coming towards him. He opened his eyes, only to meet his boyfriend’s worried gaze.
“Love ? Can you hear me ?”
“I can…” Chuuya replied, almost whispering. “Is it still somewhere behind us ?”
The brunet quickly glanced behind ; the acromantula had left.
“No, it’s not here anymore…” he reassured his partner who let out a long sigh. “You saved us.”
“No big deal.” he tried to brush it off, slowly sitting up. He looked around : he could only see a few small creatures, but nothing dangerous. “Shit, we’ve never been this deep into the forest…”
He kept looking around, meanwhile all Dazai could focus on was the redhead. He knew his boyfriend was strong and resistant. And damn, he was so good when it came to casting fighting and defensive spells ; Chuuya was, in fact, one of the best students when it came to this, but it didn’t stop him from being concerned for him.
“I wonder how you managed to not break your bones.” the brunet said and received a small punch.
“There’s no way I’m breaking a single bone again. I don’t want to drink their weird ass medications again.”
“Understandable.”
“However, I don’t really have the strength to climb all of that up right now…”
“Understandable as well. Let’s just go to a more comfortable place, shall we ?”
Chuuya slowly nodded and carefully got up with Dazai’s help. They were both covered in mud and wet leaves. They started walking under the rain again, the trees weren’t protecting them enough.
Well, at least, it helped them to get rid of some dirt.
Everything around them was dark, the moonlight barely passing through. The redhead casted the lumos spell to get a little bit more light. There were many small animals like owls, mice, insects and a few magical creatures they could barely see.
They ended up finding a place where the raindrops were barely being felt, with a big fallen tree trunk on the floor. They sat on the ground against it. Chuuya pressed himself against Dazai to seek some warmth and the brunet hugged him as a response, cold as well.
“I’m tired.” the redhead quietly said, earning a tender forehead kiss from his lover.
“I’m sorry for putting you into such a mess.” he apologized, his lips still pressed against Chuuya’s head. He was tired as well, but it was the least of his problems at the moment.
“Don’t apologize, dummie.” he reassured him. “What happened today won’t stop me from coming here again and again, with you. Plus, it’s the most effective way to improve my fighting spells’ skills.” he then smiled.
“So stubborn…” Dazai softly smiled as well.
The Gryffindor snuggled against his boyfriend even more and closed his eyes, breathing slowly after the adrenalin drained off.
They stayed silent for a long while, appreciating each other’s presence.
Chuuya felt Dazai poke his arm and he opened his eyes.
“What is it…” he groggily asked, half asleep.
“Can you see it too ?” his partner asked, making the redhead curious about what he was talking about.
He looked in front of himself and saw a big, black horse, standing in front of them. It looked squeletic and had two big wings looking like those of a bat.
“A Thestral…” Chuuya mumbled, in awe. “I’ve always wanted to see one in its natural habitat…”
Dazai was fondly watching the other teenager being amazed. The redhead’s love for magical creatures never failed to make him happy, it was always an adorable thing to witness.
“Do you think it wants to interact with us ?” Osamu wondered. “It looks like it’s waiting for us to do something.”
“Maybe it wants to help us ?”
“Most probably. It must be unusual to see humans over here after all.”
Chuuya slowly got up, facing the Thestral. The animal didn’t flinch. Quite the opposite, actually. It went slightly closer to the redhead. These creatures were known for being friendly and loyal.
He carefully extended his arm towards the horse, trying to stay slow, not wanting to scare it away.
The Thestral went under Chuuya’s hand, letting himself get pet.
“Wow…” the Gryffindor whispered, almost emotional at the interaction. “'Samu, come.”
Dazai finally got up as well, steadily approaching them. The redhead slowly took his lover’s hand and put it against the Thestral’s head. The horse didn’t seem to mind at all.
“I don’t understand why people think of them as bad omens...They’re such gentle creatures.” Chuuya said, caressing the horse’s nose.
“Because most humans are afraid of death, and anything that has to do with it.” Dazai replied. “Which is stupid, because we will all face it at some point.”
The Gryffindor hummed in agreement, his eyes still focused on the animal.
“Don’t listen to the haters you beautifuuul…” he baby talked to the Thestral, carefully rubbing its ears.
They’ve already interacted with one before, during lessons. Most of the students weren’t able to see it because they’ve never witnessed someone’s death before. Dazai, Chuuya, and two other students, were the only ones in the class who got to actually interact with one.
“Should we ask it to bring us back to school ?”
“We should, but…” he trailed off, sitting back on his previous spot. “Let’s stay here for a bit longer, with the Thestral. What are the odds that we’ll meet one again ?”
Dazai looked at him, then ended up nodding.
“Horsie, sit with us, we like you.”
“Osamu…”
The said Osamu laughed a little and sat next to the redhead. Surprisingly, the creature sat in front of them, almost looking polite.
“It looks like he’s attending a job interview. Hello mister Thestral, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” the brunet commented, which made Chuuya giggle against him.
“He looks so elegant by just sitting in front of us. Oi, should we let our patronuses play with each other while we’re still here ? It will make them protect us, just in case. Ah shit, no, your wand...” he remembered, but the Slytherin let out an embarrassed cough.
“Hum…” he awkwardly said, taking out his wand. “I forgot it was in my back pocket…”
“You absolute idiot…”
“Chuuya ! At least you got to showcase how cool you are at fighting !”
“Tch. Alright, I’ll let this excuse pass just because it fed my ego pretty well.” he sighed, taking out his wand as well. “ Expecto Patronum .” he casually said.
“ Expecto Patronum. ” Dazai said as well, releasing his Patronus of an arctic wolf.
The Siberian lynx quickly joined the wolf in a playful way and they started having fun.
“They won't hurt you, don't worry.” Chuuya quickly reassured the horse.
Two patronuses interacting with each other was a rare sight to witness, and yet, it was something normal to the couple.
When they made their patronuses appear together for the first time, the teachers and the two teenagers were shocked at how they immediately started playing with each other.
Still to this day, no one could find a rational explanation to this.
“Maybe it's some soulmate shit.”
“Ahh, Chuuya, don't start believing in this !...”
“I wasn't being serious, duh.” he defended himself. “But that would make a cool book. Two beings connected by their souls to the point where their inner magic intertwines.”
“...You read a lot of these cheesy books huh.”
“So do you ! I saw a few in your bag !”
“That's not true !” the brunet loudly replied, embarrassed.
The Thestral seemed unimpressed at the bickering.
“Bahah, I knew you were into that type of shit too.” the redhead concluded, feeling victorious.
“Whatever…”
Chuuya chuckled again, putting his head against Dazai's shoulder and hugging his arm, letting out a happy sigh.
Which was probably weird, considering the situation they got into.
“Love ya.”
“I love you too, clingy slug.”
The redhead didn't get angry at the comment, simply enjoying the moment. Maybe they needed it, to be alone together, far away from the world.
An hour later, they flew away from the forest thanks to the Thestral.
It was around three or four in the morning, they weren't sure. They didn't care much now that they were safe.
They landed next to Hagrid's hut, so they could come back to the castle in silence. Chuuya pet the horse one last time.
“Come see us whenever you feel like it, barely anyone would see you anyway. Osamu will bring you birds to eat.”
“Uh ? Why me ?”
“You're the chemistry teacher's little favourite. It won't be hard for you to sneak into the laboratory and steal some dead birds, hm ?”
“...Well, my boyfriend just told me to commit crimes for you, so I guess I'll do it if you come back.” he said, poking the horse's nose.
They backed away and let the animal fly back to the forest.
Osamu gently took Chuuya's hand into his and they went back to Gryffindor's dormitory together. Every night, they vist each other's dormitory, just to sleep together.
Every Gryffindor knew Dazai and every Slytherin knew Chuuya at this point.
Needless to say, they didn't go to class the next day.