Part III
Charles slipped around the corner, just barely avoiding being seen by Professor Summers. He was just a few corridors from being outside the castle after dark, a few corridors from breaking a rule for the first time in his entire life. He could feel adrenalin rushing though his veins making him giddy as he got closer to his goal.
Was this feeling why so many people said rules were meant to be broken?
Peaking around the corner he made sure that the professor was gone before he took off running down the corridor. He had to run, part of him was beginning to tell him how stupid of an idea this was but he wanted to keep this feeling for as long as possible. He had only ever felt something similar to this when he had first gotten the letter from Hogwarts.
Charles had always dreamed that the stories his father had told him about someone named Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort were real but after his father died those dreams were crushed by his mother who didn't support anything magical or fairy tale related. The night he had gotten his letter he had learned that everything his father had told him had really happened and that his father had been a wizard who married a muggle.
From what he could remember of his father and mother's relationship they had always been happy, that's what sparked his belief in uniting the muggle and wizard worlds. That belief had been tested when he came home after his first year at school and found his mother had remarried. The man, Kurt Marko, was awful to him and his son, Cain, was worse. Charles was constantly made fun of for his gift and called a freak almost hourly.
After a month of being home he had decided to not gone back for his second year. He didn't want to be a 'freak,' he had become so ashamed to be different like he was. It was his mother who had told him to go back. She had told him that his father would have wanted him to go to school and be great because he was special and should always embrace that.
But that was back before she turned to drinking and stopped being his mother and became Sharon. Sharon, who no longer cared if he was beat up by his step brother, who no longer called him special, who no longer cared if he bothered to come home at Christmas or even during the summer.
Charles smiled and stopped at the large wooden door that led to the castle grounds. He chewed his lower lip nervously as he stared at the dark wooden designs, silently finishing the ongoing debate in his head before pushing it open and looking out at the falling snow. He took a deep breath of the chilled, fresh air before taking one step outside. The snow and frost that already coated the frozen earth crunched quietly beneath his boot causing his smile to grow.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Charles jumped and spun around to see Professor Summers marching down the hall toward him. His fingers immediately rose to his temple and he held out his other hand to help him focus. "Sleep," He whispered softly, slowly lowering his out stretched hand and as if he controlled the professor's eyelids they drifted half way shut before he turned and staggered away.
Charles quickly turned and ran outside. He shut the door as soon as he could to put something between him and the enchanted professor. He could feel his heart beat loud against his eardrums, filling his head with doubts about his actions. This was two rules he was breaking, he went outside as well as enchanted a professor! He would get in so much trouble if his spell didn't work right…
Pressing himself to the door he sighed and closed his eyes to try to calm himself down. He had already made it this far there would be no point in turning back now. If he was going to get in trouble it might as well be for something big like this.
He opened his eyes and wrapped his scarf around his neck as a shiver passed through him. A small smile tugged at his lips as he looked down the hill at the quidditch arena. Chewing his lower lip he started down toward the arena to find a broom that he could borrow.
~~~'*'~~~
Erik tilted his head to the side as he stared up at the dark snow clouds that passed in front of the large moon. He was lying in the middle of the quidditch field, letting the snow fall all around him. He had cast a spell so that it wouldn't fall on him so that he could lie on the crisp grass in slightly more comfort than to having to worry about his clothes getting wet and causing him to freeze and go inside sooner than he wanted to.
He was trying to clear his head, for some reason every thought he had had since dinner was plagued by those hauntingly blue pools and those ruby red lips and that pale skin and dark hair. It was safe to say he couldn't get Charles off of his mind.
He growled and clenched his teeth. Normally laying here in the calm, still night helped him clear away anything that was bothering him but it seemed that his normal method didn't want to work tonight. He was steadily becoming more and more frustrated by his own mind.
Hearing a quiet cough he sat bolt upright and pulled at his wand all in one swift movement. He aimed his wand by before the spell left his lips he saw the object of his innermost desires standing a few feet from where he sat.
Charles stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, his hands in the air as if to show he was unarmed. As Erik lowered his wand he noticed an old, battered broom lay on the ground at Charles' feet where it had fallen when he put his hands up. He watched Charles like a hawk, ready to cast a spell if needed, as the younger teen slowly lowered his hands.
