Chapter Text
Little Meetings
Thursday 5th September 1991
It was four days into the new school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after arriving on the evening of Sunday the 1st of September the students, both old and new, had settled into their routines and begun their studies for the academic year. Some school Professors had already assigned homework tasks, reminding the children that their summer holiday was well and truly over. Rory Brown, a second year Gryffindor, had secretly hoped for a gentler start to the year, so he could spend more time browsing the library for pleasure rather than frantically searching the vast array of books for the correct references for his essays. Despite being sorted into Gryffindor house, Rory was an incredibly studious boy who always had his nose stuck in a book. His friends used to tease that he’d heard the sorting hat wrong and was supposed to be in Ravenclaw, but that the hat must have felt sorry for him mishearing and let him stay in Gryffindor. Those jokes soon stopped when everyone realised just how much Rory enjoyed a good prank and the occasional skipping of classes to see how close he could get to the whomping willow before it realised he was there.
On this particular Thursday, Rory was heading to the library after finishing classes for the day. Dinner in the Great Hall wasn’t for another couple of hours and while a lot of his friends had opted to play exploding snap in the courtyard Rory had decided to try and get ahead of their Charms assignment. It wasn’t due in until the 23rd but Rory preferred to get things done early. Last minute panic writing was not what he would consider fun. He found the charms section of the library with ease, ever thankful that Madame Pince hated change and had never rearranged the space and began skimming the spines for the title he was looking for. Rory was so focused on the task at hand that he was entirely unaware of the student at the other end of the shelf who was also just as focused on the books. It was far too late when Rory noticed the outline of a boy in his peripheral vision, they were already close enough that Rory’s left shoulder brushed against the shorter boys right. Usually, Rory would apologise profusely and step out of the way, but it was at that precise moment that he spotted the book he needed. He reached out his left hand to grab it at the same time the other boy reached his right hand out. Their fingers connected and they both started, heads turning and eyes connecting, both with a look of surprise on their faces.
The first thing Rory noticed were the boy's eyes, a deep hazel flecked with gold, the complete opposite to Rory’s own ocean blue eyes. Their hair was almost the same colour, though, deep chocolate brown. Except Rory’s was dead straight and meticulously tidy. The boy in front of him had wild, almost curly hair and it fit him perfectly, Rory thought, and he found himself wanting to touch it. He shook that thought from his head as soon as it entered and instead glanced between the boy in front of him and the book they were both touching. Rory noted the Ravenclaw tie and the nervous way he held himself, must be a first year, he decided.
“Sorry…” The smaller boy stuttered, “Uhm…the book…you can have it.” His gaze fell to the floor, hand dropping to his side. The bashful look on the boy's face made Rory’s chest tighten though he couldn’t explain why. Rory shook his head, a small smile on his lips, “Nah, you can have it if you like.” They continued like this for a few moments, both insisting the other take the book before Rory sighed, grabbed the book from the shelf, and thrust it into the other boy’s chest.
“Take it, I really don’t need it until next week so just make sure it’s back on the shelf by then, ok?” Rory insisted, adjusting his leather satchel on his shoulder before turning and strolling back through the library towards the central hall. Leaving a startled looking Ravenclaw first year behind.
Thursday 12th September 1991
Rory’s second week back at Hogwarts had turned out to be a lot more eventful than the first. No one had really known what to expect when the famous Harry Potter started school, but the boy who lived had caused quite the stir within the castle. He was already the most popular member of Gryffindor House and had been taken under the Weasley clan’s wing from day one. The Gryffindor Common Room was no longer a place of peace for the majority of Gryffindors, it had pretty much turned into a Harry Potter fan club. Not that Rory didn’t like the boy, he was perfectly likeable, but he missed the quiet of the common room in the evenings. Rory’s sister, Lavender, had also started at Hogwarts this year and while he’d managed to avoid her mostly for the first week, to let her settle in and find her own friends, he couldn’t ignore her forever. Rory had a turbulent relationship with his family, he shared a father with Lavender, but they didn’t have the same mother, and he had never been allowed to forget it. He was an outsider to the family much of the time but somehow his little sister still idolised him, Rory found this tough to deal with, the balance of being on the outside while caring so much for Lavender so he had been glad when he started Hogwarts last year and was able to just be Rory – without the family drama. He didn’t think he was ready for that to change.
On top of all of that, there had been that moment in the library last week with that Ravenclaw boy. Rory didn’t even know his name, but he’d dreamt of those eyes more times in the last few nights than he would ever admit. They’d wanted the same book and Rory, being the gentleman he was, had offered it to the other boy despite really needing it for his essay. He wondered if the Ravenclaw would return it by today, like he’d asked. Rory had checked every day this week, but the book was still missing from the shelves and when he’d asked Madame Pince, she wouldn’t tell him who had it, only that it hadn’t been returned yet.
That was how Rory had found himself sat on the floor leaning against the exact shelf he’d met the boy at last week, it was an hour until dinner and Rory really didn’t want to sit here waiting all night. But he would if he had to. It was either this or camping outside Ravenclaw tower and that felt like the weirder of the two options considering he didn’t even know the boy.
A few minutes had passed and Rory was now fully engrossed in a copy of Practical Charms and Spells: everyday magic for the busy wizard when he heard footsteps approaching. Rory glanced up to see the Ravenclaw stood next to him, looking just as shy as he had last week, and was glad to see he had the book in his hands. Rory opened his mouth to say something clever like about time, but before he had a chance the other boy had crouched down and slid the book across the floor towards him. Their eyes connected once more, and Rory heard the boy say “Michael” before he turned and started to walk away. Rory only smirked and replied “Gesundheit” loud enough for the boy to hear, chuckling to himself as he watched him walk away.
Thursday 19th September 1991
Rory had been spiralling for the last 7 days. Why didn’t he just tell Michael his name? In the moment he thought it was funny the way the Ravenclaw had rushed out his name and immediately left. Rory had regretted his response as soon as Michael had disappeared from view, but with them being in different houses and different years there hadn’t really been an opportunity to properly introduce himself. He was sure the whole thing had made him look like an idiot, or worse, maybe Michael thought he was arrogant and didn’t want anything more to do with him.
“Are you alright there, Rory?” The voice of Cormac McLaggen came from behind, and Rory lifted his head from the table he had been resting it on in the library for the past 10 minutes. Of all the people to see him having a mental breakdown, of course it had to be Cormac. They were in the same dorm so naturally had become friends, but Rory wouldn’t have considered Cormac and him to be close, Rory much preferred the company of Katie Bell who just seemed to get him a lot better.
“I’m fine, Cormac, just tired. Please leave me alone.” Rory grumbled, slamming his head back down on the desk and hoping Cormac got the hint. If he was going to spiral, he wanted to do it alone. He heard a sigh and the sound of footsteps getting further away and relaxed into the desk. Truthfully, Rory wasn’t sure why he’d come back to the library at the same time and day that he’d seen Michael for the last two weeks. There was no reason the boy would even come back this week, there were no books to exchange after all. Rory also didn’t understand why he wanted to see Michael again. He knew nothing about him, maybe they wouldn’t even get along, maybe Michael didn’t want to be friends with a second year anyway. He’d probably made tons of friends in his own house and year. Rory groaned into the solid wood of the desk.
“What are you doing?” A different voice but Rory recognised it at once.
“I’m hoping the desk swallows me up and I can finally be one with the library.” Rory replied, his voice muffled by the wood.
“Sounds painful.” Michael’s voice sounded amused, and Rory turned his head to the side to glance at him. “You never told me your name.” Michael said plainly, almost expectantly.
Rory sat up, surprised at the confidence of the first year, and fighting down the blush that threatened to cover his cheeks. Had Michael come to find him on purpose?
“I’m Rory…Rory Brown.” Rory cleared his throat and shuffled in his seat.
“Oh! You’re Lavender’s brother?” Michael looked surprised and Rory wondered what was so surprising about being Lavender’s brother.
“You know my sister?” Rory leaned forward on the desk, resting his head in his hands as he gazed at Michael. No, he wasn’t gazing he was just looking. In a perfectly normal way. There was no gazing going on here…
“Yeah…I mean we are in the same year, we have some classes together and stuff…she talks about you a lot.” Michael adjusted his robes awkwardly. “Anyway, I just wanted to know your name…since you know mine, just seemed fair you know? I’ll, erm, leave you to be swallowed by the desk now.”
“Please.” Rory mumbled, feeling weird all of a sudden and wanting anything other than Michael’s stupidly pretty eyes on him right now. As Michael walked away, Rory was struck with a sudden desire to know if Michael found Rory’s eyes pretty, but as soon as that thought hit him he groaned and slammed his head back onto the desk again.
Thursday 26th September 1991
Once Rory had managed to get over his little episode last week, he felt confident that there was some possibility of a friendship between him and Michael. He’d even gone as far as asking his sister what the Ravenclaw was like. Lavender had frowned initially and asked Rory why he was interested, to which Rory had shrugged and told her they’d met in the library a few times. Lavender had told him that Michael was smart, but not obnoxiously so like Hermione Granger, that he was a hard worker but had a good sense of humour and always seemed to be hanging around with Terry Boot. She didn’t know much more than that, they weren’t really friends and since it was only 3 weeks into the year, she hadn’t had much chance to make friends outside of Gryffindor.
“Why do you want to know so much about him anyway?” Lavender asked later that day, walking towards the Great Hall with Rory.
“I dunno, he just seems like someone I might get on with.” Rory replied, pushing open the doors to the entrance hall and holding it for his sister to walk through first.
“You could always talk to him and find out for yourself.” Lavender stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, her blonde hair swinging in its high ponytail as she passed Rory.
“You know everyone will look at me as if I’ve gone mad if I just stroll up to the Ravenclaw table and talk to him.”
“You can’t, he’s not here, I saw him heading to the library after Care of Magical Creatures.” Lavender didn’t notice that Rory had stopped in his tracks at that. It was Thursday. They had met in the library every Thursday so far. It was becoming a habit. Rory’s heart stuttered in his chest. What if Michael was waiting for him? The library was on the other side of the castle. He’d never make it.
Without thinking about it further, Rory turned and took off at a run, sprinting through the viaduct courtyard and over the bridge to the central hall. It was the fastest route to the library from the entrance hall. He might just make it. Rory practically skidded down the steps to the main section of the library, his eyes scanning the tables for any sign of blue trimmed robes and wild hair. He spotted Michael at a far table, seemingly busy studying, and took a moment to regulate his breathing after sprinting the length of the castle. Once he’d collected himself, he walked towards Michael’s table with what he hoped was a cool sort of confidence.
Silently, he slipped onto the bench opposite the Ravenclaw and took out his potions notes from this morning. He didn’t really need to study them, but it would be weird to sit and stare at Michael so he needed to look at something.
“I didn’t think you were coming.” Michael’s voice was quiet, Rory thought he heard a tinge of hurt in his tone, but he could have been mistaken.
“Hmm?” Rory looked up from his pretend reading, brows furrowed in very real confusion. He couldn’t remember telling Michael he’d be here this week. He wracked his brain incase the conversation had slipped his mind, but came up empty.
“I guess I just assumed, same time every Thursday. I thought maybe it was your designated study time” came Michael's explanation, and it did make sense. Rory had indeed been studying in the library at this time every Thursday. Truthfully, it was the quietest time because who wanted to study on a Thursday? It was such a mundane day.
“It is. I was just walking my sister to dinner…Hang on…were you, waiting for me?” Rory asked, a hint of a smirk on his lips as he leant against the high back of the bench and crossed his arms.
Michael huffed, “No. I needed to study anyway. I just thought it would be nice to have a dedicated study partner and you seem intelligent.” He met Rory’s gaze with amusement in his eyes.
“Thanks, I guess.” Rory chuckled, unsure if that was a genuine compliment but he supposed Ravenclaws weren’t going around calling many other house members intelligent. “So we’re making this a weekly date then? Like as friends?” Rory clarified.
“If you want. I know you’re a second year, and a Gryffindor at that, but I’m sure there are things we can learn from each other.” Michael said behind a smirk of his own. Oh Rory was going to get him back for that little remark that was for sure. “Shall we start next week though? We’re going to miss dinner and I’m starving.” The Ravenclaw added, already packing away his things.
“Sure.” Rory replied, “walk with me?” He asked, standing and swinging his bag over his shoulder. Michael nodded and waited for Rory to lead the way.
They walked back to the Great Hall mostly in silence, talking occasionally about their hobbies and interests. Michael asked a lot of questions, Rory soon discovered, but seemed genuinely interested in the answers too which was refreshing. Once they reached their destination they parted ways with a smile and went to their respective tables.
Thursday 7th November 1991
Over the past 5 weeks, Rory had met up with Michael in the library at the same time every Thursday. Always before dinner and always on a Thursday. They studied, mostly. They also talked a lot. Rory felt like he’d really been able to get to know Michael and hoped the Ravenclaw felt the same way, Rory certainly considered him a friend now. Despite the occasional jab at his intellect or the odd mention of house rivalry, Rory enjoyed spending time with the younger boy and Michael had been right – they had both learned a lot from each other. Rory was exceptional at Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms while Michael excelled in Potions and Herbology. They balanced each other out perfectly.
This week Rory wasn’t particularly interested in studying but he’d shown up to the library as planned, albeit a little early, and slipped into what was becoming their regular booth in the back right corner of the room. He settled back against the bench and allowed his eyes to close briefly.
“Are you asleep?” Michael’s voice jolted Rory awake, his eyes opening wide and darting around the room as if he had momentarily forgotten where he was. “Ew, were you drooling?!”
“No!” Rory protested, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his robes anyway, just in case. He watched Michael sit down opposite him and place his notebook and quill on the table between them. Michael looked up at him then and seemed to notice that Rory had no intention of getting his own study materials out. In fact, Rory hadn’t even brought his bag. He raised an eyebrow at Rory, who shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. “Sorry, I just don’t feel like studying this week. After all that stuff last week with the troll and saint Potter losing us all those points because he thought he could take on a bloody mountain troll on his own at 11 years old…and everyone else in the common room is praising him for it, can you believe it?” Rory was rambling, he was aware and yet he couldn’t stop it. His hands had clenched into fists under the table and his cheeks had gone red, whether that was with anger or embarrassment at being so emotional about it, Rory couldn’t tell.
“I can believe it actually. It’s like the sun shines out his backside.” Michael grumbled, looking thoroughly fed up. “I don’t get the big deal, he was a baby when all that stuff with you-know-who happened. It’s not like he’s actually a powerful wizard yet. I was telling Terry that he’s an idiot, should’ve just let the teachers handle the troll instead of trying to look like a hero.”
The boys carried on like that for a while, complaining about the unfairness of it all, until they noticed the library was empty and the sky outside getting darker. Rory swore under his breath when he checked the old watch on his wrist. It was past dinner time.
“Shit, we’ve missed dinner. Ah Lavender’s going to be so annoyed, I’ll never hear the end of this.” He muttered, leaning his head back against the wall behind him.
“It’s alright, Rory. A girl in Hufflepuff told me how to get down to the kitchens, apparently the house elves don’t mind making extra food for students who turn up.” Michael said with a smile, but Rory had become distracted by the sound of his name on Michael’s lips, it wasn’t like Michael hadn’t said his name before, but it was the way he’d said it just now. As if trying to reassure Rory. It wasn’t even the lack of food Rory was concerned about; it was his sister finding out he’d missed a meal to hang out with Michael for hours. She was already annoyingly suspicious about Rory’s lack of interest in girls when there were several other second year boys trying their hand at flirting. Rory had brushed her off last time she’d mentioned it, telling her that he was 12 and it was perfectly normal for 12-year-old boys to be more interested in school than girls. He didn’t think she’d been convinced. Truth be told, Rory wasn’t convinced either.
Rory cleared his throat and shook the thought of romance from his head, instead smiling brightly at Michael and standing up, offering a hand to help the Ravenclaw out of his seat. “To the kitchens we go then!”
Thursday 28th November 1991
The next time Rory saw Michael wasn’t until the end of November. He’d been given two weeks detention for dangling a dung bomb on a feather string in Mrs Norris’ path. He had no idea how Filch found out it was him who had caused the wretched cat to smell of dung, but Rory strongly suspected Mrs Norris was no ordinary cat. The morning after he got caught, Rory had sent a not so sneaky note across the Great Hall to Michael’s lap informing him of the unfortunate news and promising to make it up to him. Of course, Lavender had seen the note fly across the hall and had grilled Rory about it that evening. He had told her they were just studying together but the knowing smile on her face as she had said “He’s quite cute, isn’t he?” Had caused Rory to blush so hard that Lavender had burst into laughter, Rory had mumbled something about them being too young to know what was cute and what wasn’t and promptly stomped off to bed.
Now, as Rory sat across from Michael in their usual seats, Lavender’s words were ringing in his brain and as he glanced at Michael, he supposed he could see where she was coming from. Michael had a nice face, his eyes were pretty, especially when they caught the light, and his hair looked impossibly soft. Rory supposed all those things could make someone attractive but then he’d never really thought about it.
Rory spotted Michael frowning at him and quickly averted his gaze back to his Herbology notes. He’d been trying to label the various parts of an Abyssinian Shrivelfig, a plant the second years studied in greenhouse 3, when he’d become distracted.
“Do I have something on my face?” Michael asked, dipping his quill into a pot of ink before continuing to look over the DADA notes Rory had lent him.
“No…” Rory trailed off, cheeks slightly red and avoiding Michael’s eyes. He didn’t think his staring had been that obvious.
“Right…Well, you keep looking at me and I know it’s not because you’re worried I’ll mess your notes up, my handwritings neater than yours.” Michael pointed out, copying something Rory had written down in such perfect cursive script that it made him feel slightly inadequate. In that moment, Rory vowed to work on his handwriting.
“I was just thinking. I know I messed up your homework schedule or whatever by getting detention and I said I’d make it up to you so…what do you want?” Rory asked, closing his notebook and setting his quill down. He wasn’t really sure how to make it up to Michael, but he knew the boy was a stickler for routine and had most likely studied alone in the library for the last two weeks. Which wouldn’t be a problem, but they’d both grown used to the others company and Rory found he couldn’t concentrate if Michael wasn’t sat opposite him.
Rory watched as Michael though about the question, he could almost see the cogs turning in his head he was thinking that hard.
“Going a month without getting more detentions would be helpful.” Michael teased, a small smirk on his face. Rory laughed out loud and made a face that clearly said not likely but he nodded anyway and held his hand out to shake on it.
“Deal.”
Thursday 19th December 1991
Rory had so far kept his promise. No more detentions and he’d even shown up early to most of their meet-ups. That wasn’t to say he hadn’t been in trouble, he’d just made sure he kept his pranks to a below detention level, for Michael’s sake. Today was also their last chance to see each other before the Christmas break, the Hogwarts Express was taking students home tomorrow morning and when Rory had checked the list of students staying over the holiday he hadn’t seen Michael’s name on it. It was hardly surprising, the only students who stayed were those whose parents were too busy working or those who didn’t have families to go home to. Rory fell under the latter category. He’d never enjoyed Christmas at home, it was just another reminder of how much he didn’t fit in. Lavender had offered to stay with him but he’d told her not to, it was her first time being away from her parents for so long and they’d be excited to see her. No doubt she’d be spoilt rotten this year and Rory didn’t need another reason for Lavender’s mum to hate him.
So, that was that, Rory had accepted his situation and was going to make the most of it. First, he was going to wish Michael a happy Christmas and then he’d go and help Cormac finish packing because the idiot had left it until the last second and had lost half his socks. As he rounded the far corner of the library, he spotted Michael in their usual spot, he was busy reading and had his brows furrowed in concentration. Rory was tempted to stay where he was, partially hidden by a bookshelf, to watch the way Michael’s eyes darted across the pages and how his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm as he read. But he was already a few minutes late and he knew Michael would look up at any moment to see if he’d arrived yet, so he took a deep breath and approached.
“Hey!” Rory said, trying to sound cheerful and calm as he slid onto the bench, though his heart was beating in a very not calm manner. “Sorry I’m late.” He added. Michael’s smile as he looked up at him almost stopped Rory’s heart there and then but he composed himself quickly.
“Hey! I wondered if you’d somehow managed to land a detention on the last day of the term. Terry owes me a galleon.” Michael said with triumph in his tone. Rory narrowed his eyes at that and Michael laughed, “What? I bet that you wouldn’t!”
“A galleon is quite a big wager though…what if you’d lost?” Rory asked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.
“I’d have asked you for a galleon.” Michael said matter of factly and it was Rory’s turn to laugh, the sound echoing off the bookshelves and causing Madame Pince to poke her head round the corner and shush them. Both boys apologised in hushed voices but smiled at each other once the librarian had vanished again. They settled into comfortable chatter about their Christmas plans and Rory managed to deflect any awkward questions about his reasons for staying behind by claiming that he had a potions project to keep an eye on. Just before they gathered their things to leave, Rory remembered the small parcel he had carefully wrapped inside the pocket of his robes.
“Oh wait! Before I forget, here…” He dug around his pocket and pulled the gift out, sliding it across the table towards Michael, who eyed it with curiosity. “…it’s nothing special, just a small selection of Honeydukes stuff, it’s probably too much…I didn’t know what you’d like.” Rory clarified, suddenly feeling very shy and looking anywhere but at Michael.
“Thanks…I… You didn’t have to get anything…I don’t have anything to give you…” Michael stuttered and Rory looked up to meet his gaze just in time to see the blush colouring Michael’s cheeks. In that moment Rory decided that Michael’s face looking like that was all the present he needed, he didn’t think he could say that out loud though so instead he leaned forward, resting his cheek on one of his hands and looked at Michael with a soft smile.
“That’s ok, I have everything I need.” Rory said quietly, watching again as Michael’s cheeks flushed pink, the colour spreading down his neck. “Merry Christmas, Michael.”
“Merry Christmas Rory.”