Chapter Text
As expected, it didn’t take long for the news of the Boy-Who-Lived’s reappearance in the Lozac delegation to spread and on the second day following their arrival, the Daily Prophet’s headlines were dedicated to this specific subject.
Miles was already posted at the Slytherin table, waiting for their new Housemates’ arrival. They hadn’t been in the dorms or the common room that morning, and he had no idea where they could have gone.
He realised that they might have decided to meet up with their fellow Lozac students when they saw the group of exchange students enter the Great Hall together.
(Still, they could have gotten lost.)
It was a curious sight to them – to see students wearing the Hogwarts uniform, or at least part of it – mingle together as if House rivalries meant nothing. The Gryffindor girl had an arm wrapped around Potter and was laughing at something the Hufflepuff girl had said. The other boys were following behind at a sedated pace. They were quiet, quieter than the Hogwarts students. Even when they laughed, Miles couldn’t hear them over the noise of the room.
They only went separate ways when the badger – Linda Anderson, if he remembered correctly- caught sight of her Housemates. She waved at her fellow Lozac students and skipped to her table, a bright grin on her face.
The Ravenclaw boys, Kadyrov and Williams, nodded at their friends before joining Lovegood at their House table. Left alone, Gauthier, well, Max, as he had asked to be called, grabbed Pott – Harry’s wrist and led him to the Slytherin’s table.
"Good morning," he said when they once they had taken a seat next to Miles.
Harry nodded at them in greeting.
Miles watched them follow their morning routine. Harry surveyed the table for a moment, eyebrow pulling into a frown before Max grabbed a pitcher.
"Careful, that's -"
Miles could only watch as the boy poured the drink into a cup.
"Milk," he finished lamely.
Max raised a brow.
"I know. Harry drinks milk in the morning."
Marcus Flint, who, up until now, was nose-deep into his own cup, af it contained the answers to the world's mysteries, raised his head to squint at the boys.
"No coffee?"
Adrian rolled his eyes. Marcus and his coffee obsession.
"Or tea?" Graham chipped in.
Gauthier quirked an eyebrow at them, eyeing Marcus with something akin to amusement before shrugging.
"Coffee makes him sleepy. We only let him have coffee when he's pulling one too many all-nighters."
Then he saw Harry frown, looking for something, and realisation flashed in his eyes.
"Right. Do you have a, err..."
He glanced at the table, paused, before pointing at a small, empty cup.
"Are you using this?"
Miles blinked. He had noticed but not paid attention until now to the rhythmic, musical way his breathy tone wove its way around each of his sentences. Before, he had always found the Canadian accent to be quite funny whenever he heard it (which was a rare occurrence), but now, it sounded distinctly... warm and charming. The way Gauthier sounded was more rugged than Harry (whom, up until now, had spoken very little so he couldn't really compare them) or even David – Malfoy's less annoying French cousin. Gauthier's speech had the rapid-fire rhythm and sing-song quality of a French person with the inflexion of an American, with the way he flattened the vowels.
He looked down at the cup.
"Err, no?"
He didn't understand why Gauthier (maybe by the end of the exchange he would grow used to calling them by their first names) needed that, but didn't question it. Instead, he watched as the guy pulled a small black object from a pocket and pushed the... it looked like a roulette. A yelp escaped him when a small flame appeared on top of it, and Gauthier almost jumped at the sound before glancing at him in surprise. Why did it look like he was judging him? Gauthier was the one who had made a flame appear without any verbal spell!
But one glance at Terence told him he was missing something; his friend was laughing at him.
"It's not magic," Terence told him, smirking down at him.
Miles frowned. He didn't like it when Terence laughed at him without actually explaining anything.
"Stop pouting," the former Seeker told him, raising a hand to flick his nose.
Miles yelped again and glared.
"It's a Muggle object. Don't worry about it, sweetie."
Terence and his damn pet names. Miles wished they weren't as effective as they were. Damn him, always using that secret weapon of his.
He was about to hiss something at his friend when Harry spoke up.
"No lighter."
His voice was rough and low. He seemed unused to talking, as Gauthier had told them the night before.
Gauthier shook his head fondly even as he pocketed the small object in the pocket of his trousers.
"You and your traditional ways."
But he pulled out his wand, a nice, long jet-black thing, made of Ebony. Miles would know. He was related to the Ollivanders. Garrick Ollivander wasn't the only known wandmaker in his family, not by far. Miles was always sure to get lessons on wand woods whenever there was a family reunion, and the Ollivander side of their family could make it.
"Maki showed us with the spell. No lighter."
"Fine."
With barely a whisper, a small flame shot from the tip of his wand and landed in the cup.
"There we go," he whispered, pushing the cup in front of him, between his and Harry's empty plates.
Then, he started piling up food on both his and Harry's plates, with a look at his friend, as if he expected the kid to protest. Perhaps he did, Miles mused, noting the way Harry paled slightly at the amount of food on his plate.
"You don't have to eat it all," he heard Gauthier tell him in a hushed tone, and yeah, Miles should stop listening, but he couldn't unhear it, "but try to eat some, 'kay?"
"Okay," came the reluctant answer.
At long last, Miles and his friends finally found out why Gauthier had done what he did when he watched Harry cut a small piece of pancake and a few fruits before dropping them into the fire. Gauthier followed suit.
It didn't immediately make sense in Miles' eyes, but eventually it did. See, the thing is that, for all that old families claimed to follow the Old Ways, they didn't actually follow most of them. They celebrated the Solstices and kept registers and grimoires, but they didn't... Well, they didn't make offerings outside of the Solstices. What the boys were doing... Well, not many people did that anymore. It wasn't illegal or forbidden, but the students – even the purebloods once didn't do that at school. Most didn't even do that at home unless it was for celebrations. Very few people made daily offerings nowadays. Even Malfoy, who claimed loudly that his family followed the Old Ways more faithfully than most other families, didn't.
It wasn't even frowned upon, but it just... wasn't really done anymore. Those were old traditions they had all but forgotten about.
Miles could tell he wasn't the only one staring. While the students from other Houses were busy doing their own thing, the rest of the Slytherins had a good view of the fire in the cup. They hadn't missed a thing.
Damn, they didn't think those guys followed the Old Ways. They certainly didn't expect Harry Potter to do so. Then again, Miles figured they should probably stop expecting a certain set of things from the Potter heir, because they had no idea where he'd been living in the past decade, how he ended up at Lozac, or how he had grown up. Or even what the hell they were doing in that school of theirs, since – you know – everyone on the case had remained annoyingly tight-lipped.
"So... what do you have this morning?" Adrian asked once the two exchange students were done with their offering.
And who will you be with? Was the real question.
Adrian watched them from the corner of his eye as he finished his cup of tea. Gauthier was chewing on a piece of toast, whereas Potter was playing with his food more than actually eating it. He had to be nudged by his friend before finally starting to eat.
Gauthier pulled out his timetable before handing Potter his.
"I have Herbology with the 7th years, followed by an hour and a half of Transfiguration with the 6th years. I'm supposed to be with the 7th years, but your headmistress insists on testing our level before letting us in the NEWTs level."
No surprise there. McGonagall was a good teacher, but she also was a hardass.
Gauthier craned his neck to look at his friend's timetable, but let him tell them himself.
Which he eventually did.
"Hm... I've got Transfiguration with the 4th yearS, then a self-study hour and DADA with the 6th years."
Miles and Terence grinned.
"You'll be with us then," he said, nudging Terence, who smiled brightly.
Terence had always known how to put the anxious kids at ease. Potter and Gauthier may not look anxious, but they certainly weren't relaxed, even now, when they didn't look tense.
Miles was not afraid to use Terence's superpower to get their new Housemates to relax, and unlike some, Miles truly didn't have any ulterior motives for that.
Gauthier (shut up, he'll call them by their first name when talking to them) then turned his head to glance at Potter.
"Eat."
Potter rolled his eyes but took another bite.
"Are you sure it's not -"
"Yes."
Whatever Potter had asked – Miles didn't dare question him – he must have been satisfied with the answer because he started eating.
"They don't do that here," Gauthier continued.
Miles almost asked. It was on the tip of his tongue. (Un)Fortunately, Marcus rose at that moment, and Miles immediately followed suit out of habit.
It was stupid. He knew Marcus had to leave early because he wanted to get a book from the library before classes started and, as usual, Silver and Adrian would go with him. Miles didn't have anywhere to be right now. Classes wouldn't start for another thirty minutes, but he was so used to following Marcus that he had acted out of habit.
Embarrassed, he grabbed his bag.
"I suggest you follow your fellow 4th years to Transfiguration when they leave for classes, Harry," he told the kid before addressing Gauthier. "Terence can take you to Herbology if you need help, Max."
Terence was a 6th year like Miles, but he would be delighted to help a fellow student out. Terence was nice like that. Miles, on the other hand, was embarrassed and refused to admit that he was used to following their 7th-year friends like a puppy, so he invented an excuse and left the Great Hall without looking back.
Adrian was mildly surprised to see that Gauthier had beaten them to Transfiguration. Sometime between Herbology and the Hall, they had lost sight of the younger boy, but somehow, the guy had made it to the right room. Without anyone's help, judging by how empty the corridor was.
"How did you... find the room?" he asked after a second of hesitation.
Gauthier looked up upon hearing his voice and smiled in a carefree way Adrian didn't believe for a second.
"Oh, hey. I asked a few portraits."
He couldn't tell whether Gauthier was being truthful or not, but he figured the guy had no reason to lie.
"Glad you got there. I'm sorry we didn't pay attention. We lost sight of you early on."
Gauthier chuckled and waved his hand.
"It's fine. I made it, didn't I?"
He raised his hand to his man-bun and tightened the elastic around his hair. A few streaks had escaped the bun, but Gauthier either didn't know or didn't care. He was the kind of guy that girls (and boys) would call handsome – in a shaggy sort of way, what with the way he always seemed to style his hair. His features were soft, only accentuated by his gentle smile. It was too early to say whether the 'easy-going' aura he had going on was just a persona or something more real, but... Adrian thought that he might come to like this guy. Potter too. The kid had been almost unnervingly quiet up until now, but Terence seemed to be under the impression that it would change once both Slytherins had gotten used to their new surroundings. Adrian thought that Terence was too optimistic. He didn't think that the change of surroundings had much to do with their tension. It probably didn't help the matter, but if you asked Adrian, he'd say that this school of theirs was the biggest problem. As long as it loomed on the horizon, the kids would remain wary.
Around them, the corridor filled little by little with students. From the corner of his eye, he watched Gauthier track each of them as they walked by him. Some were whispering about him – hey, it was the first time in a very long time that an exchange program was organised with Hogwarts. A few were eyeing him, whispering about his looks (Adrian did say that he was a pretty boy – even if the common aesthetic for Hogwarts boys was hair short enough that you couldn't tie it). Others didn't pay attention to him and were just discussing the upcoming Potions test or some other unimportant things.
Transfiguration was nice. Miles neither hated nor loved it, but he liked how committed McGonagall always was when it came to teaching her subject. Despite being originally a 5th year, Gauthier had no trouble catching up to their current work on permanent conjurations. If anything, he proved his skills in the subject by being among the first few who managed the task of the day.
When they left the classroom, with Gauthier walking ahead of him, humming to himself, he followed at a sedated pace. It was strange how familiar the other boy already seemed to be with the castle, but he figured it might have to do with that school of theirs. Miles, admittedly, didn't know much about the Canadian academy of magic -well, apart from the recent scandals and current investigations going on- but he knew that they studied in a castle too. A smaller one than Hogwarts, but still a big castle with some probable labyrinth-like corridors and secret passages.
It was only when they stopped at the Hall where Gauthier reunited with his fellow Lozac students that Miles finally put a finger on what had been bothering him this morning.
The Lozac kids were... odd. Well. Obviously, they were, but... It was in the way they walked. It might not appear obvious when it was just Gauthier and Potter, but when they were with the rest of the exchange students, it became blindingly obvious. They all walked in sync. Right foot first, left foot following. Rinse, and repeat. They were walking as one. Apart from the Anderson girl, who would skip forward instead of walking. It suited her sunshine persona. He knew that the Lozac Academy of Magic was more military-inclined than their own school, but it still struck him as odd the way they walked as one man, almost like soldiers.
"- think I should cut my hair?" he heard Potter mumble as he and Gauthier approached the Slytherin table.
Gauthier smirked.
"Harry, you've been asking that at least twice a year since we met, and you have yet to cut them."
Miles could swear he saw the younger boy flush. It was so different from the closed-off look on Potter's face when Miles had first caught sight of them the first evening of their arrival, two days ago.
"Hey," he greeted them when they sat down next to him. "How were your first lessons here?"
He saw the look the two boys exchanged, and mentally prepared himself for the bullshit they were about to serve him.
"It was nice."
Miles raised a brow, and Potter winced slightly, tugging at his finger protectors. Miles wanted to know about that, but he didn't think it was the sort of question you asked a new acquaintance. Maybe it was! Maybe it was, and Miles was just making a big deal out of nothing. Maybe the fingertips protector was just a fashion statement, or something. Or maybe it was something bigger.
"It was... different," the younger boy finally admitted.
"Yes. I think I'd have more trouble grasping the lessons if I had started here."
Potter nodded in agreement with Gauthier's words.
"Yes. Our schools have different educational methods."
Yeah, Miles silently agreed. Hogwarts was many things, but the teachers didn't abuse their students.
He understood what Potter meant by that; there was a reason the Lozac kids were all placed ahead of their respective year in some subjects. Lozac obviously taught its students in an effective way... if you ignored the questionable training and all of that - and Miles really didn't know much about it because the Aurors in charge of the investigation remained frustratingly tight-lipped. Understandable considering it involved minors, but it still made him blink the first time he saw how very few details there were in the articles. Not every country was as passive as Wizarding Britain when it comes to invasive journalists. At least, he knew that very few Ministries/magical governments would accept keeping around the likes of Rita Skeeter.
"You were in the news this morning, mate," Miles said, because he tended to put his foot in his mouth when he was trying to fill the silences before they became awkward.
Harry blinked, then grimaced, his nose scrunching up in annoyance.
"I don't want to know."
Which, fair.
"Probably for the best you don't read it," Graham Montague cut in, wincing. "Rita Skeeter wrote the article."
It wasn't a bad article, per se. Well, for an article written by Skeeter, it lacked her usual bite, but it was still full of crap.
Gauthier... Max grimaced. He seemed to have heard of Skeeter. Miles didn't think the woman was known across the pound, but then again, she wrote for the most well-known paper of the British magical community, so he probably should have expected something along those lines. It wasn't out of the ordinary for her to slander foreign dignitaries whenever it was convenient for the British Ministry.
"I'll send a note to Zoran. He probably already thought ahead, but just in case," Max said.
Sitting next to him, Harry adjusted his fingertips protector and nodded in thanks.
When he saw the looks, he shrugged awkwardly.
"Zoran will get in touch with Mr Fontaine or Miss Martin."
"They work for a lawyer cabinet," Max added, which, actually, explained things much better.
As lunch progressed, Miles couldn't help but notice the way the Potter heir seemed to slump more and more against his friend. His eyes, heavy with sleep, opened and closed at intervals without his consent.
"Is he okay?" Miles questioned, head inclined towards Harry.
He couldn't not ask.
Max lowered his eyes to glance at the boy dozing off on his shoulder and gently petted his hair.
"Harry has a... He has a health condition. It's fine, it's not... It's just a bit incapacitating at times." (1)
Miles frowned and knew he wasn't the only one, but before he could open his mouth to say something, anything, Gauthier turned away from them and gently forced his friend to open his eyes.
"Do you need it?" he thought he heard the guy ask.
Potter blinked several times before nodding, exhausted.
Gauthier nodded back and stood up, keeping a hand on Potter at all times, as if he feared the boy would collapse without him. He probably would have, judging by how tired he was. Was the 'jet lag' so bad? Or could it all be blamed on Potter's pre-existing health issue?
Gauthier invited his roommate to lean on him before turning towards them.
"Please, excuse us; we'll be going back to the dorms."
Miles almost stood up in his haste to ask him a question:
"Will you guys need someone to lead you to your respective lessons?"
Gauthier shook his head, already focused on helping the younger boy.
"Don't worry. We'll ask the portraits."
When they were out of earshot, Graham frowned.
"I wonder what it was all about. If Potter is sick, why not get him to the infirmary?"
Terence sighed.
"Have you been observing the same thing as us, Grams'? Those guys are obviously traumatised and probably have trust issues the size of.... of... of an Acromantula!"
Miles wasn't the only one who stared at Terence for his choice of comparison. His lips twitched, and he shook his head.
"That was weird."
He didn't know if he was referring to Terence's comparison or the Lozac students' behaviour. Probably a bit of both.
Still, this, right now, wasn't the weirdest thing they had done or said by far, and it was only the first few days of this exchange.
Well, exchange was actually a strong word. No Hogwarts would be going to Lozac, what with the investigation currently going. The exchange program had already provoked waves of surprise and outrage. Imagine the parents' reactions if they had found that their kids might get to study in a school (a very good school, results-wise) where teachers had been allowed to abuse the kids, and where some had probably yet to be arrested.
Miles could already tell that this investigation into Lozac Academy would be a long one.
He leaned back with a sigh. Despite his best efforts, he was... excited. It was terrible to be excited like that when it comes to students and a whole school who had a terrible reputation and would probably go up in flames in the next few years or so if nobody did anything to change things and save its reputation.
But... Well, Miles had always been a curious child, and the Lozac students were just fascinating.
Lessons at Hogwarts were... easy. Well, maybe not all of them. Transfiguration wasn't easy, if you asked Harry, but Harry also disliked Transfiguration. He didn't struggle, he mused, but that was most likely because the Lozac curriculum was more advanced than the Hogwarts one. Still, McGonagall was strict and demanding. Harry could work with that. He was used to strict teachers. She wasn't nearly as harsh as some of their instructors. She was... softer. Not weak, not a bad teacher either, but there was definitely something soft about those Hogwarts teachers.
DADA, though, was a blast (2). As much as Harry enjoyed his lessons at Lozac, you usually walked out of DADA and Combat Magic lessons with bruises and cuts all over. Here at Hogwarts, students were much more... sheltered. While most teachers Harry encountered seemed to think it was a bad thing, Harry thought that every once in a while, it wouldn't hurt to protect the students from the hurt inside the school.
Actually, there were a lot of things – positive and negative that he would say about Lozac, but he couldn't, not without risking a punishment. Even now, thousands of miles away from their school, they still feared retaliation – maybe not consciously, but they did.
During DADA, he sat with the people he knew: his housemates, Miles Bletchley and Terence Higgs. They were nice... maybe even kind, although that was probably too early to say.
If anything, they were kind enough to act as a deterrent whenever someone tried to approach him to ask if he had the 'famous scar' or if he remembered anything about that night. Harry figured he wasn't doing a very good job at hiding his emotions because Bletchley and Higgs didn't hesitate when it came to firmly telling nosy students to leave him alone.
"I'm glad the Law Enforcement got to the students before we arrived," Harry told Max when they met up after their last lessons that day. "I know it would have been much worse if they hadn't talked to them about not, err... harassing us."
True, Adrian thought as he followed them at a sedated pace. The Aurors, from both the British Ministry and the Ministère des Affaires Magiques (Ministry of Magical Affairs) of Quebec, had dropped by before the Lozac delegation's arrival. They had been told not to harass the students because of everything that was going on with their school. Not used to being told by actual officials, the students had been intimidated enough to take it to heart. That wouldn't stop the most nosy ones, but it did deter most, even with the shocking reveal that the Boy-Who-Lived studied there.
Marcus and Adrian had just left Potions when they had almost stumbled into the pair. To say that Snape wasn't happy when he found out that some of the exchange students wouldn't be studying under him was an understatement. Unfortunately, he took it out on Professor Stanovich, who had been invited to watch some classes. Most unfortunately, he took it out on Professor Stanovich at the beginning of his class with his NEWTs year Gryffindor/Slytherin, and they all got to enjoy seeing the dour man being put in his place when he demanded to test the Lozac students on their knowledge.
Adrian rolled his eyes at the memory. Snape really thought he knew better than the three different examiners that watched over the NEWTs exam?
The bitter man hadn't liked being denied. Instead, he resorted to glaring at the Potter child whenever the Potions teachers graced their sight in the Great Hall with his vile presence. Potter wasn't the only Lozac student to have gotten his Potions NEWTs, but he was the only one Snape seemed to hate. Adrian knew what it was really about, though. His father had been a year below Snape at Hogwarts. He remembered how the Marauders – a group of pranksters from Gryffindor – used to bully Snape back in the day. It just so happened that one of them had been James Potter.
Adrian understood getting back at people who hurt you, but going after an innocent child? That was despicable. Potter didn't have anything to do with that; he didn't even know his father, for Merlin's sake! As if he didn't have it bad enough with abusive teachers back in Lozac, now he had to deal with the Hogwarts teacher giving him attitude? So childish. Adrian never thought he would use that term to qualify Severus Snape before, but apparently, there is a first time for everything.
When Harry was told about Snape's behaviour by Miles, he shrugged.
"Guess it's a good thing I'm done with this subject. I don't have any more reasons to hate it."
So, yeah, Adrian occasionally blocked Snape's sight of Potter whenever they were eating in the Great Hall, or made sure that Snape never tried to talk to or harass the Lozac group of kids.
Privately, Adrian thought that the Aurors should have talked to the teachers too, about not harassing the exchange kids. Perhaps they did! Maybe they talked to them when the students weren't around. If they did, though, it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears for some.
"How much do you wanna bet that Dumbledore will use Snape's hatred for anything Potter-related to have the kid alone in his office?"Graham whispered to Adrian's ear, earning a grimace from the Pucey heir.
Way to make it sound ominous, Gram, Adrian thought with a mutinous expression on his face.
To be fair, being alone with Dumbledore was never a good idea when you were a Slytherin. The guy wasn't evil, but he was human, and that was perhaps part of the problem. He couldn't be partial. Try as he might, Dumbledore was biased against Slytherins. It was subtle, he'd give him that, but it was clear to anyone bothering to look. Add to that that the kid was a Potter heir and the missing Boy-Who-Lived? Dumbledore was just biding his time, observing the newcomers. He wouldn't wait much longer before trying to get his hands on the boy to question him over where he was all this time and how he found himself in Canada, of all places.
If he was lucky, Dumbledore would be dumb enough to approach him in public, and the rest of the House would protect their own. If not... Well...
Adrian watched the younger boy adjust his fingertips protector – a nervous tic or perhaps a habit he never shook off.
"Not takin that bet," he said with a huff. "We'll have to warn them."
Even if he hadn't liked them, he would have felt it was his duty to do so, but here's the thing: Adrian liked the two new snakes. They were quiet and reserved, but not haughty. Despite coming from a school that showed higher results than Hogwarts, they didn't seem arrogant or to hold it over their heads as others would. Even the other Lozac students didn't appear that way. Of course, book covers can be deceiving, but... Adrian had a good feeling about Potter and Gauthier.
It's just... He couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't surprising them... and maybe not in a good way. He didn't mean that they were liars or would go out of their way to cause trouble, no. He meant that in a way that... He felt like he might go grey early because of them. Which was insane to think because, as far as he knew, they weren't troublemakers like his own set of friends!
Still... It couldn't hurt to warn them about Dumbledore. Unless they were Dumbledore fanatics, but Adrian rather doubted it. They might like him. They might not. They seemed level-headed, so Adrian thought they might not go into extremes either way. Besides, with everything going on around the Lozac Academy, Adrian doubted the Aurors would allow a teacher or school staff alone with them even if they were from Hogwarts. That being said, Dumbledore still had a lot of influence and sway, so he might just be the exception.
Better not risk it. The guy wasn't evil by any means, but he was a manipulative bastard. Adrian refused to lose two of their Slytherins because of their own carelessness. No. They would have to talk about this. Or, actually... Things might just work out if they kept presenting a united front (as they always did outside of their common room.
"It's a shame we don't have Charms until Wednesday," Harry said as the Slytherins stood up as one (more or less) and started to exit the Great Hall. "I'm looking forward to it. Master Flitwick is a renewed world champion duellist. You're so lucky to be taught by him."
Terence perked up because he didn't know that! A glance around told him much the same. Sure, Professor Flitwick mentioned participating in duel tournaments when he was younger in some bits of anecdotes, but he never made it sound like those were important competitions.
"He's that well-known overseas?" Cassius questioned, because he hadn't known either.
Harry's eyes sparkled. Well, they didn't actually sparkle, Miles mused, but they seemed to glow slightly in the darkness of the dungeons.
"Yes?"
He seemed surprised they hadn't known. Understandable. Miles flushed in embarrassment. How come they didn't know? Why didn't they know?
"He's like, known for five consecutive victories in an international duelling tournament. Urgh, what is this called? I don't... I don't have the name, but it's a really tough competition, where the best of the best duel on a big platform."
Whenever Potter spoke like that, he became animated. Well, it was the first time Miles saw him speak like that. They may have only known each other for a few days, but the Slytherin had observed his new roommates. Potter was quiet, reserved. He was – against all preconceived ideas – an introvert. Studious, he enjoyed books in a quiet place. He spoke very little, even compared to his friend, Maxiliarmus Gauthier – who was already not as talkative as Miles.
They were a bit weird, but... not in a bad way.
There were some concerning things about them, though.
Miles had the feeling that he would only grow more concerned the more he got to know them.
He hoped he was wrong, but... He didn't think he was.
