"Oi, Marcus, wake up," someone says, shaking me awake. I groan, rolling away from them, only to fall out of my bed. I involuntarily cross my arms over my chest, before clambering back onto my bed and feeling around under my pillow.

"Binder...Binder...Binder..." I mutter to myself, before pulling it out with a smile. I slip it on as quickly as I can.

"You ready yet?" the familiar voice of my dorm mate, Adrian, asks with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah...Why are you waking me up, anyways?" I grumble.

"I hate to break it to you, but it's the first day of the school year. You're a fourth year now, buddy!"

"Are you trying to get me excited?"

"Well, yeah! We're fourth years now, just three more years and we'll be able to use magic outside school and drink firewhisky and just-"

"Alright, alright, I understand," I laugh, "You're excited because we'll be graduating soon and everything." I hop out of my bed, digging around in my school trunk for my uniform and lazily pulling it on. "Is my tie okay?"

"Why do you always worry about the tie?" Adrian asks.

"Why do you never worry about the tie?" I counter, adjusting my shirt collar.

He's silent for a moment. "Touche."

We stroll out, and climb up out of the Hufflepuff common room. I sprint to the Great Hall, grinning brightly, only to bump into another student.

"Oh, blimey, I'm sorry," he says apologetically, stumbling back.

"No, no, it was my fau-" My words catch in my throat as I look up at the boy. He's wearing a blue and bronze striped scarf, and his vest has the Ravenclaw crest on it. His hair is short and black and spiked up with gel, and his eyes are a striking bottle green. His skin is the color of molten milk chocolate, and I can feel my heart skip a beat. He's about a head taller than me, so I have to tilt my head up a bit to look directly at him.

"You alright?" he asks, snapping me out of my daze.

"I—um-uh-" I sputter. "I-I'm alright, yeah," I finally manage to say.

"Oh, good, I was worried," he says with a relieved smile.

"I-I'm Marcus," I blurt out. Why did I tell him that?

"Are we introducing ourselves? In that case, my name is Castiel. Y'know, like the angel."

Oh, bloody hell, he's literally named after an angel, I think, my heart pounding wildly in my chest.

"I was just on my way to the Great Hall," he says. "Where were you off to in such a hurry?"

"Th-The Great Hall..." I answer sheepishly.

"Oh, would you like to walk together then?"

"Um...s-sure..." And with that, he set off, and I hurried along beside him.