The room was cosy enough, though not quite as Emilie had imagined it. There were some beanbags scattered around on the floor, a few bookshelves leaning against the far wall (they looked pretty well stocked, too) and what looked like the utensils and ingredients needed to make any hot drink they would like. Arun headed straight for the tea, whilst Emilie wandered over to the part of the room which had caught her interest: the bookshelf.

"Hey, Braveheart, look at this!" Emilie called, without taking her eyes off the shelves.

"Braveheart?" Emilie didn't need to turn around to hear the mockery dripping from his voice.

"Yeah. Braveheart. You know, the lion, the bravery. Are you a Gryffindor or what? Come and look at this," she motioned with her hand, a feeble attempt to get him to hurry up.

"For your information, I am scared of spiders," he rolled his eyes, not that she could see, and joined her by the bookshelf.

He was amazed. It was filled with books on aromanticism and asexuality; those ones which weren't theory-based, he assumed would have an asexual author, or an aromantic character in the story, or else, why would they be there? It seemed to be their very own secret library.

"Looks like I don't have to read the same book again," Arun mused, a smile on his face. "If you want it, that book's yours."

Emilie couldn't hear him, though, she was at the other end of the shelf and she was picking up book after book, making a small pile which she was struggling to carry. She might not want labels, but informing herself more couldn't hurt, right? Arun's book had mentioned asexuality, but it never went into detail. Here was all the detail she needed, both on the small things left out of the first book, and the spectrum of asexuality which sometimes ran alongside aromanticism. She hadn't felt this happy and relieved since the first time she read the word 'aromantic'.

With a look to Emilie, Arun smiled at her. For the first time, he felt this special kind of connection between them. She had been nice enough to him, and since he had been in the grey-area of aromantic and asexual for a while now, he wanted to help out someone who seemed lost and confused by the whole idea. It was a good deed. But she made him feel particularly warm inside. It wasn't a romantic attraction, that tended to be reserved for men (in his past experience, anyway), but it was strong, and it was loving. He felt protective over someone for the first time in a while, and he wanted desperately to call this girl his friend.

With excited eyes and a childish happiness, Emilie stumbled over to Arun, struggling with her tower of books. The Slytherin collapsed onto a beanbag across from where Arun was standing, dropping her books next to her and opening the book which was on top.

"This is amazing," Emilia whispered, smiling from ear to ear.

Arun smiled back, dragging a second beanbag over to her and sitting down. "I do wish this library had chairs," he joked, getting comfortable.

But Emilia didn't hear him, she was absorbed in her own little world, provided by the book in her hands.

"Hey," Arun pulled the book away from her, his eyebrows arching as he looked at her. "I thought that we were here to talk?"

Emilia rolled her eyes in response, almost snatching the book back from Arun, but he was right. The Slytherin sat up slightly, preparing herself for this conversation.

"So..." She began, not totally sure about where to go from there. "Amortentia smells weird to me, which is why your book intrigued me. In fact, it doesn't really smell of anything.

"I don't really like labels any more, they're too confusing and they seem to cause a lot of aggravation in the LGBT+ community. But I think the closest one to me would be aromantic.

"I guess, I was just wondering, why you have the book in the first place?" Her eyes remained transfixed on her hands which sat in her lap.

"Well, it's a slightly long story," he paused there to take a small breath. "I'm aroflux and aceflux. It doesn't touch on it much in that particular book, but I can occasionally phase in and out of aromantic and asexual as orientations, with those two being my default. At least, that's how I experience it."

Emilie felt herself breathing a sigh of relief. There was someone who understood her, who wouldn't judge her; her friends certainly weren't like that and she didn't even want to think about her parents. Coming out wasn't something which she could really consider right now. Especially when so many people haven't heard of aromanticism, or even the idea of a split attraction model; she didn't want to be labelled as 'abnormal'.

Arun noticed this internal conflict. The signs were minute, but he had lived them, and they were there.

Getting up, he placed her book back on her pile.

"Can I make you a drink? It'll help. I promise."

Emilie smiled. Somehow, she trusted Arun was right. With a nod, she began to feel a lot more comfortable than she had ever been before.