She looked at him, as if about to say something, but quickly stopped. She shook her head stiffly.
"You sure?"
She nodded again, though clearly holding something back.
"Alright." Producing a wand from a thin leather holster hanging on the back of his belt, he held it up. Swish and flick. He reminded himself.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
Cho rose steadily into the air. Manipulating his wand, he sent her upwards. He noticed as she reached the edge of the hole, that her face had grown as ashen grey as the dust in her hair. This worried him slightly. He set her down just over the edge of the hole. He stuffed the canteen back into his bookbag before throwing the strap over his head. Replacing his wand in its holster, he jumped to grab the ledge, and hauled himself over it.
This room was much bigger than the narrow staircase they had just left behind. The sideways dorm was also much brighter than the stairs had been thanks to the empty windows over their heads. Everything in here was smashed as well.
Cho was where he had set her down. She still looked grey in the face, but instead of pain, her face was drawn taut with sickness. She looked up at him.
"Sor-" She started, but ended abruptly his eyebrows rose. "Motion sickness."
"How?" He asked confusedly. "You've played the most intense position on the Ravenclaw quidditch team for years." This made no sense to him.
"Tha's different." She said, shaking her head. "Got a broomstick under you to hold on to. Levitating in midair just... drops my heart into my stomach." She paused for a deep breath. "I hate it." She finished.
"Then why didn't you say?"
"You had to to get me out of here." She replied.
"I'd have thought of something else."
She shook her head adamantly. "No. It was the best way."
He smiled bemusedly. Here was the prettiest girl at Hogwarts, a complete prep, talking like a soldier. Ignoring her own dislikes, forcing herself to endure, even with a broken leg.
The world must be ending. He thought.
She noticed his smile. "What?" She asked.
"Keep it up, and we'll make a warrior of you yet."
They sat in silence. Cho was recovering herself, while Whitaker gazed through the windows to the stars twinkling faintly in the brightening sky. Even with her extreme dislike of levitating, he knew he'd have to subject her to it again. Twice at least. But for now he was letting her catch her breath. He was examining constellations when she spoke.
"Wh- What did you mean?" She had hesitated, her tone demure and slow. He looked at her, confused. "What did you mean when you said you knew what it was like to be…"
"Oh." He cut her off. "I just meant… that I knew what it was like to be outcast." He finished tersely.
"You said you'd tell me… ya'know, if I-" She winced as his bark-like laugh cut her off.
"I…" he began, "I haven't always been the personable type." He smiled a small smile as he watched her head cock lightly to the side as she listened. "Matter o'fact, I'm a quiet guy nowadays, but I was worse back then. Would hardly say more than two words a week."
"I can believe it." Said Cho, smirking smalley. The smile died as she noticed he wasn't going to return it.
He started up again, unconsciously slipping into a heavier accent as his voice ground down to a rumble. "S'pose I should mention, I was raised mostly in the muggle world. Went to muggle school an' all." He smirked. Learned muggle stuff there. Mum taught me magic an' stuff at home."
"So then, why Hogwarts?" Cho asked confusedly.
"Yer gettin' ahead of me." He said, sarcastically indignant. He paused for a breath and continued. "When I was twelve, still pretty new to magic an' everything, I 'ad a row with a teacher. She got real out o' line. Started insultin' my work instead of critiquin' it. Called it 'pathetic' an' 'trash'. She didn't seem to wanna stop neither… Just kept goin'. Well, o'course I stormed out, as twelve year olds do." He smiled ruefully at this. "I … I remember feeling somthin' like a dam of warmth burst in my chest. Didn' know what it was at the time, but later that day, come to find out, 'alf the buildin' burned down. When it all came down to it, the teacher 'suggested' it migh' have been arson, pointed me out to the cops, 'cause o' how I stormed out."
"Cops?" Cho asked, confused.
"Muggle Law enforcement."
Cho's face slipped into a noticeably surprised look.
"And blamed you?" She exclaimed.
"Yup." He muttered. "'Course they was right, wasn' they? I burned the building down with magic."
"On accident…" Cho noted, voice serious.
"Still…"
"Was anyone hurt?" She asked.
"Nah. It was after school when the teacher asked me to stay an' talk. 'alf the buildin' was a ghost town."
Cho sat quietly for a moment, perhaps taking in the fact that the man who came to find her was an accused criminal.
"It's not right." She finally determined.
"It doesn' matter." He waved his hand, as if to wave the whole memory away. "They had no proof. I wasn't punished… Legally anyways… After the fire, word started to get 'round that I had been accused. Didn' take long for all the parents to form their own opinions o' me. Didn' help that I was a pathological loner…Th' started talkin' 'bout how there must be somthin' wrong with me, isolatin' myself like I did. Took it as a sign that I really was a littl' fire-startin' devil."
Cho looked as though she had no idea what to do with this information. Whitaker's cheeks flushed a purplish-red, and he stared at his hands. Cho had no idea what to do with herself.
"So, you see…" He said heavily. "Mum thought it best to put in a new school. Decided 'ogwarts would help me learn to control myself."
Cho finally finished processing it, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't have to tell me that." She said softly.
"Its nothin'." Whitaker grunted.
"No, really… I shouldn't have asked." She stared downwards.
He looked at her for a moment before he spoke. Even with stone dust smearing her sweaty face, her features appeared soft. He held her gaze when she brought her eyes up. They were the color of dark chocolate, and as deep as the sky. After a beat, he dropped his own eyes, acting like he hadn't been staring. He was fairly certain his mouth had been slightly open…
"...I don't mind telling you." He explained. "You just seem like a trustworthy person." She smiled slightly at this. Her grip on his shoulder tightened familiarly. "Besides, it's only fair. All those times in class... when you were humiliated... s'posed it was fair for you to know that about me."
"Thank you, then." She said.
They sat in the pale light of the twilight sky that was streaming in from the hole in the top-most wall of the dormitory. They sat with each other, the silence, and solemnity of the moment bonding them.
He had just reached up to hold the hand that was on his shoulder, when his galleon blazed to light.
