Christmas break had come and gone. Their first day back had been nice and everyone was making their way back to their common rooms, but not Artie Abrams. He was wheeling nonchalantly to the hospital wing. He had, of course, stopped to give Ginny a kiss and a hello when he had run into her in the hallways, waving at her brothers and Harry Potter as he went, excusing himself.
As the thoughts of Luna left his mind over the break, the thought of fixing his legs consumed him. He was very surprised he hadn't thought about it before Ginny mentioned it. He was the only person in a wheelchair at Hogwarts, how could that not have bothered him before? He had consulted his parents over Christmas and asked them if they would mind him fixing his legs with magic, as they were both muggles. Of course, they said, they wouldn't mind at all. However, his parents also said it was his choice. If he liked his wheelchair, he could keep himself in it. But he saw them exchange a glance that plainly said neither of them knew why he would want to stay in it at all. Artie decided then that once he got back to Hogwarts, he would fix his legs with magic. He didn't know where he would go from there. Would he have to learn to walk again, or would he just remember? If he did have to re-learn walking how long would it take?
Artie just thought anything would be better than staying in his chair, an object he suddenly resented.
He passed a few more students as he rolled on, but he heard a voice saying his name. He turned around and saw Luna Lovegood walking up to him and he stopped in his tracks.
"Hello Artie," she said serenely. He waved to her.
"Hey, Luna," he said.
He tried to just forget the greeting and roll away, but she turned and started to walk with him. Half of him wanted to entertain her company, but the other half wished she would just leave him alone. He had things to do and even if he did want to explain his situation he wasn't sure if she would understand how he was feeling.
"How were your holidays?" she asked him, looking at the high-ceilinged corridor rather than at him. He shrugged and then realized she wasn't looking.
"It was nice. Pretty chill. Nothing much happened." Artie said, nodding a bit.
Luna nodded as well. "So was mine. Daddy and I went out and we found the horn of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. He was very pleased and he hung it up on the wall."
She finally looked down at him and smiled, and Artie smiled back though his mind was confused. He was starting to remember why he liked her so much.
"But I was meaning to ask you, have you forgotten our common room is that way?" she asked kindly, pointing over her shoulder. Artie almost laughed, he could hardly believe she could be serious about such things.
"No, I was just heading somewhere else," Artie said. Luna nodded a bit, and Artie thought she might be imitating him and the way he nodded his head to say he was okay with things or thought they were cool. He didn't know whether to be amused or offended. After a small silence Luna finally spoke again.
"Where are you going?" she asked, creating a hole in the conversation. Artie didn't mind, however.
"I was just going to the hospital wing," he said calmly, although he was suddenly anxious. He knew she was going to ask why, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to answer or not. However, Luna just looked from his feet to his face, then back down again.
"You look healthy to me," she said, and Artie's mouth opened as if he was about to say something. He closed it and then opened it again. She said it in a way most other people telling him he was healthy or that he looked good didn't. She didn't say it in a halting way, she didn't avert her eyes or cough, or smile awkwardly. In short, she said it as if his wheelchair didn't exist. That made Artie feel good, although he didn't know why. He had gotten used to his chair being his prominent feature. He spoke again to try and keep the conversation flowing.
"You really think that?" he asked curiously. Luna nodded.
"You don't look sick and you seem to be moving the way you normally do," she said with a little shrug. Artie smiled to himself. The smile vanished, however, and was replaced with a serious expression.
"Luna?" he asked tentatively. "What would you say if I told you I was fixing my legs?"
She stopped walking to consider for a moment and he stopped with her. The hospital wing was just ahead of them, Artie could see the door, but suddenly it seemed crucial that he had her opinion on his decision. She finally looked down at him with a kind smile.
"I would say it's a rather good decision. But I would also say it's bad. I would miss walking if I was you, of course, but I also like your wheelchair. It makes you special."
"Define special," Artie said, tilting his head a bit as if trying to see her clearly.
"Well, I can see you in a crowd. But that's nice. You don't quite look like everyone else. I think that's a good thing," she said in a way that radiated a strange sort of confidence as well as her usual madness. It was because of that that Artie took her word as the whole truth, for that moment at least.
"I suppose you might want another opinion on this?" she asked, and Artie shrugged.
"I don't know, I mean, it's not too big of a deal."
"It's a very big deal if you would be able to walk again," she said seriously, and without another word she started pushing his wheelchair in the opposite direction. He looked back at the hospital wing a bit regretfully, but he could still get it done tonight. However, Luna had planted a small seed of doubt in his mind. He wanted to walk more than anything, but maybe keeping his wheelchair just a little longer wouldn't be bad. Maybe he should wait till the end of the year…
"Where are we going?" Artie asked a few minutes later, breaking the surprisingly comfortable silence.
Luna hesitated before saying, "I feel like if I tell you, you'll try and convince me not to take you."
That only sparked his curiosity further.
"Come on, tell me!" he said, turning and making a pouty face at her. She grinned at him and he grinned back.
"Be patient," she said. He faced forward and acted patient.
They arrived before a gargoyle statue just a minute later and Luna stopped. Artie had no idea where he was going. Luna turned to the statue and said "Acid pops." The gargoyle let aside and the wall behind it split apart, revealing a moving spiral staircase. Artie's eyes widened in appreciation of the clever magic as Luna pushed him in and held his chair up on the stairs. As they reached the end of the staircase, a door appeared and Artie heard voices behind it. Luna knocked and the voices stopped, and Artie heard someone, a man, say "Come in!"
Luna opened the door and Artie realized where he was right away. He was in the headmasters' office and he felt embarrassed right away. Luna was right, if she had told him he was going to Dumbledore for help with something silly and personal, he would have refused right away. To add to his embarrassment, Harry was in the room, looking very surprised to see them there. Dumbledore look very serious as they walked in, but smiled at them right away.
"Hello headmaster," Luna said, and gave a small wave to Harry.
"Hello, Miss Lovegood," Dumbledore said, and continued to speak. "I'm sorry to say that this is a very inopportune time for you to be here. Is this something I can help you with some other time, or will this be a particularly short meeting?" he asked no threat in his voice.
"Short, I think," Luna said. "My friend Artie is in a wheelchair and he thinks he wants to fix his legs. He asked for my opinion, but I don't think he's sure of what he wants to do yet. I was wondering if you had any thoughts about that. And I'm sorry if I interrupted something particularly important. If that's the case, we can just leave."
Dumbledore was silent for a bit. He intertwined his fingers and looked curiously at the blushing Artie. Harry was staring at Artie too, but he looked less thoughtful and more judgmental. He only knew Artie as Ginny's boyfriend and didn't know quite how to aim any other emotion then jealousy at him.
"I think that Mr. Abrams should do whatever he thinks is best. It really depends on what he sees his future as. If, say, he wanted to become an Auror or a Quidditch player he should consider fixing his legs now and getting fully re-accustomed to them as soon as possible, but that's not to say he can't fix them later. Whatever he thinks is best is best for him," Dumbledore said the last part while looking at Artie and there was a pleasant twinkle in his eye that relaxed Artie a bit, at least enough to smile back at Dumbledore.
The headmaster suddenly turned to Harry and said, "What do you think?"
Harry looked as taken aback as Artie felt as he entered the room and he just shrugged at first. "I don't know. I mean, I'd like to walk if I were him, just… yeah. That's a personal decision. Like you said."
Dumbledore nodded in a conclusive way and said, "Yes, yes. Now, I'm sorry Miss Lovegood and Mr. Abrams, but I must insist that you go. Maybe we can catch up with less serious matters another time."
He waved goodbye, and Artie knew he was being dismissed. Luna took the handles of his wheelchair and aimed him towards the door.
"Thank you!" Artie said as they left and Harry turned back to Dumbledore. Once they were on the staircase, Artie heaved a sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He turned to look at Luna, who was completely at ease.
"What was that for?" he asked Luna as they walked out of the stairway and back into the corridor.
"To help you figure things out. I felt like you would just keep second guessing yourself if we didn't get an opinion that you thought wasn't formal," she said calmly.
Artie opened his mouth and tried to retort and justify the discomfort he felt, but what she said was so completely true he didn't have anything to say but a mumbled, "Thanks."
"You're welcome. Are you going to keep your chair?"
"For a little while, I guess. Maybe just till the end of the year."
"I think that's a very good idea," Luna said, and stopped pushing his chair. Moonlight was streaming through the windows and hit Luna in a way that made all Artie's small judgements against her vanish. He thought she looked gorgeous. She suddenly stopped pushing him and walked around to the front of his wheelchair and just stood there.
"I've got to go, I promised I would meet Dave, Santana and Brittany for a game of exploding snap," she said.
Artie found his voice just in time to say, "Okay. Okay, I'll just go back to our common room. See you."
Luna waved pleasantly and walked away, and Artie stared after her in wonder.
000
A week later, the word of Artie's small wheelchair drama had drifted around the Ravenclaw common room and everyone was excited for the upcoming apparation lessons. As Dave and Luna walked around the common room, they constantly encountered people with their noses buried in books with titles like The Art of Apparation and Destination, Determination and Deliberation: Apparation for Beginners.
Dave didn't think very much of apparation. He had done side-along apparating with his father for a while and he thought it was uncomfortable. He supposed it would be easier once he was doing it himself and got used to it. Dave told all this to Luna, who had her nose buried in her father's magazine one night in the common room. She looked up at him with her big eyes before answering.
"I've never apparated. Daddy and I have always found our way around other ways. But I suppose it's interesting. What's it like?" she asked curiously.
"Well, uh… it's kinda hard to explain… it feels a little like things are pressing in on you everywhere. Walls, I mean. Like you're being squeezed. It's weird," Dave said. He looked down and checked his watch.
"Santana and Brittany said to be there in like, ten minutes" he said, referring to their frequent meeting place, the Room of Requirement. For them, it always turned into a cosy little room with three big armchairs and a beanbag for Brittany, who preferred that over any type of chair.
"We should go then," Luna said, and they left. Dave turned to look around the common room before they left and noticed Artie Abrams was staring avidly at Luna. He blushed and looked down when he saw Dave was looking at him. Dave just turned and walked after Luna.
Dave and Luna didn't talk much. They had conversations, of course, but most of the time they just were quiet. It wasn't as if they had nothing to talk about, Hogwarts was a place that basically went out of its way to remain interesting and always had something going on worth talking about. However, Luna seemed to spend a lot of time just having conversations within her own mind and Dave liked thinking. He liked to sit and work something out; he liked the satisfaction he got afterwards. He liked knowing he knew things. So when he and Luna settled down during classes and in the common room, many hours could pass in silence. Both of them thought it was nice.
They reached the blank stretch of wall that was the Room of Requirement, but just then another little group of people ran up. Luna looked at them in mild surprise, but Dave recognized the boy. He was a Slytherin and Dave had seen him around when Slytherin's were his only friends. He always looked proud and haughty, but now he looked out of breath and rather desperate. There were two first year Slytherin girls on either side of him looking rather disgruntled. It only took one look to tell everyone there that they were there for the same reason.
"I need to get in there," Draco Malfoy said, his eyes flicking to the wall. Luna took a step back. She would be involved in no arguments. Dave took a step forward, looking big and threatening. Draco's stunned breathlessness turned to annoyance and superiority almost right away.
"We actually had plans here," Dave said, looking down at Draco. Draco scoffed.
"My plans here are ten times more important than yours," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"For all I know your plans could just be sitting around, picking at your own earwax. We were here first anyway," Dave said, and Draco looked near furious again.
More footsteps started to echo in the corridor and Santana and Brittany walked up. Brittany moved away from Santana to talk to Luna, she knew Dave and Draco were starting to argue and she didn't want to be involved either. However, Santana walked over to stand by Dave and pulled out her most menacing grin for Draco, who suddenly looked a bit threatened.
"This guy bothering you, Dave?" Santana asked in a way that implied that she could put a stop to it. Draco looked from Santana to Dave, looking extremely annoyed. Dave grinned at Santana.
"He's not doing much," he said. Having her next to him made him feel twice as confident. He and Luna were good friends when it came to understanding and knowing, but he and Santana were two halves of an ass-kicking whole. With Santana, he could take on anything or anyone and knock them down so far, so fast that they wouldn't know what hit them. However, he could tell Santana was a bit down tonight. They just bantered about Draco in front of him. Once they started making fun of his hair he just made a frustrated noise and turned to walk away. The two little girls gave them dirty looks before scampering after Draco. Santana and Dave looked at each other and grinned.
"He was just trying to get into the room. He said he had a bunch of stuff to do in there or something," Dave said with a shrug.
"Well he's a jerk. Thanks for keeping him out," Santana said, patting Dave's shoulder before turning to pace back and forth in front of the wall three times. A door appeared and the four friends walked in and collapsed into their chairs. Santana pulled out her wizards' chess board and set herself up with the white pieces. She looked expectantly up at Dave, who sat down opposite her and made the first move. Brittany insisted that Luna sit on her lap and was reading the Quibbler over her shoulder.
"Hey Britt, sing something for us," Santana said. Luna looked over her shoulder and nodded eagerly. Dave just looked a little confused.
"You sing, Brittany?" he asked. Brittany nodded.
"Yeah. Santana taught me when we were little," she said. Dave's head whipped back to Santana.
"You sing too? Why haven't I heard you?" he said. Then he turned back to Luna. "Why haven't you told me?"
Luna looked unfazed by his accusatory tone and just said, "It never came up… you two should sing together now."
Santana shook her head. "Nuh uh. I ain't playing chess and singing at once."
Everyone in the room knew going against Santana once it was a bit later in the evening when she was tired and seemingly worn out was a bad idea, so Dave and Santana continued with their chess game as Brittany started singing softly in French. Dave was further stunned. He didn't know Brittany spoke French. He suddenly started to think he didn't know a lot about these girls at all. They all were quiet as Brittany sang. She was very good, and her voice was full and sensual, as opposed to her quiet, misty voice. Once the song was over, Santana and Luna clapped enthusiastically.
"You speak French?" Dave said in utter surprise.
Brittany shook her head. "I just learned that song puh… puh…"
"Phonetically, Britt. Just because a word starts with P doesn't mean it makes a 'puh' sound," Santana said, not taking her eyes off the chessboard.
Brittany rolled her eyes. "English is so weird… but I don't know what I'm saying in that song. I just had a boy Santana found who speaks French teach it to me. It's pretty," she said, and Luna nodded.
"Very pretty," she said. Santana nodded.
"Yeah. Britt wanted to sing it so badly and I didn't know what it was saying so I had to track down this kid I heard speaking French a while before that. That sucked. Then he was kinda a bitch. He was cool, but he was kinda a girl about everything. He was a Slytherin; his name was Kurt or something."
Dave's head flew up so he could look Santana in the eyes and everyone noticed how much attention he was paying then.
"Brown hair, high voice?" Dave asked. Santana nodded, looking a bit suspicious of Dave.
"Yeah. That boy can sing," she said.
"He sings…" Dave mumbled.
"What?" Brittany asked. Dave quickly shook his head.
"No. Uh, nothing," he said.
The rest of the night passed with conversation of apparation, Hogsmeade and the dating at Hogwarts. They had just started to explain iPods and Facebook to Santana and Luna when Dave checked his watch and saw that it was long past curfew.
"Guys, guys, we gotta go. We're gonna get in trouble," Dave said, standing up and tapping his watch. Luna got off Brittany's lap and gathered up her Quibbler. It took the other girls a bit to get up, but Brittany stood up, squinting and stretching and looking rather catlike. Santana packed up her chess set and stood as well.
"Guys, I wanna talk to Dave for a bit. Is that cool? We'll catch up in just a sec," Santana said.
Luna nodded and Brittany said "Don't get caught!" as she slipped out the door. Santana stared after her and Dave cleared his throat, annoyed.
"What is it? I don't want to get in trouble. We're super late already," he said, looking down at her a bit angrily. Santana raised an eyebrow at him.
"Davey, Imma tell you something you might not be ready to know," she said in an annoyingly and falsely caring voice. Dave scowled at her. He couldn't think of anything she could possibly say he wasn't ready for. But he was totally unprepared for what she said next.
"You're gay," she said.
Dave's heart dropped into his stomach and everything shut down in his mind. His mouth fell open and the sudden blank nothingness that consumed him was filled with shock and embarrassment.
"I'm not. I'm not gay. What the fuck made you think that?" Dave said, but Santana knew he only cussed when he got nervous.
"Please. You don't even look at girls. And I swear you freaked out when I said 'Kurt'. Do you have a crush on him or something?" Santana asked. Dave shook his head.
"No way. I've talked to him like, once."
"So you admit you're gay?"
"What?"
"You're gay, Dave. You're so gay, stop denying it."
There was a very tense silence where they just stared each other down, both looking angry and feeling stubborn. Then, Santana looked down and shifted a bit before mumbling something that Dave couldn't hear.
"What?" Dave asked.
"I'm… kinda… gay too," Santana mumbled, crossing her arms. Dave's eyes widened.
"You sleep with guys like, all the time!" Dave said, and Santana snapped out of her vulnerable state to glare at him.
"I'm a lesbian; don't make me say it again." Santana said. They stood and stared at each other again, but now there was an element of understanding in their mildly angry glares.
"Do you like the Kurt kid?" Santana asked. Dave nodded.
"How often do you think about him?" Santana asked.
"What kind of question is that?" asked Dave, but she gave him a very persistent look and he mumbled "I guess like once every few days or so… but I only talked to him once! Just one Herbology class, I'm not supposed to think about him more, am I?"
Santana shook her head. "So you wanna impress him?"
Dave nodded. Santana nodded in understanding and said, "I have someone I want to impress too. It's, uh… it's Britt."
Dave's eyes widened a bit.
"I'll help you if you help me."
