Here it is, folks! Now, I assume you all understood what I was hinting at last chapter (I wasn't that subtle). Without further ado, let's go!

P.S. I'm sorry in advance.

"A…about Conall."

"Conall?" Magnus didn't quite understand what was happening, but simply seeing Alex like this had him worried. The way she was hugging herself, the way she stood, bloody hell, just the air she had about her right now reminded Magnus of himself two years ago. Frightened and miserable and without a clue of what he was supposed to do. The thought of Alex feeling like that didn't bode well with him.

Alex nodded, tightening her arms around herself. "Yes. It's…" Alex stopped talking immediately as a group of students turned the corner and walked by them. She followed them anxiously with her eyes as they passed by. Whatever she wanted to talk to him about, Magnus realized, she didn't want other people to hear.

"Come on, let's go somewhere quite," he said and tugged at her sleeve to get her to follow him. Under normal circumstances he would have taken by the hand but Alex looked like she would break apart if he wasn't careful.

He led Alex through the corridors and up the stairs until they were outside the Room of Requirement. He walked in front of the wall three times asking the room to give him a place where he could talk to Alex. Once the door appeared he opened it and walked inside. The room was simple with an old looking couch in front of a fireplace with a coffee table between them. It looked like part of the living room from Perthro.

"Come, sit down." Alex sat next to Magnus on the couch without a word. She played with the flayed edges of a blanket that was lying on the couch and Magnus waited. He really wanted to ask her what was wrong and have her explain but part of him was afraid of what he'd hear so he waited for her to speak first.

"Conall had been acting weird lately," Alex started. She wasn't looking at Magnus, focusing instead at the blanket she was still playing with. Magnus's mind immediately jumped to the worst possible scenarios. Conall and Alex had fought, Conall yelled at her, he said something that hurt her.

"He'd be really affectionate most days but other times he'd hardly hold my hand and…" Alex sighed in frustration and threw the edge of the blanket she had been playing with aside as if it would get rid of her problems. "I don't know, I felt stupid about paying it this much attention at first. It might have been a coincidence, right?" It seemed as if the irritation with which she had spoken the last two sentences disappeared when she made that question. The "right?" came out sounding like a little kid that had just learnt Santa Claus wasn't real and was desperately trying to convince themselves that he was even though they knew it was a lie.

"But the other day, when we went to Hogsmeade… things were fine at first, but after we got back and I asked him to kiss me he didn't do it." Magnus nodded and made a little 'mm' sound to show Alex he was paying attention. He remembered what Alex was talking about and he also remembered the pang of jealousy he had felt.

"It was weird and what he said then, about having to do homework he forgot, sounded like a bad excuse. Maybe I'm just overreacting, I thought, but…" Another deep sigh. Alex did that a lot as she spoke and every time she would run hand through her hair. It had turned into a mess, locks of green hair sticking up at odd angles. "He acted like that for the next few days too. It was like he was avoiding me. And I tried to figure out of something had happened for him to act like that, but…" Alex's voice dropped. If it wasn't for the silence in the room Magnus wouldn't have heard what she said next. "All I could come up with was that I was male at the time."

Magnus had to do a double take, not only to make sure he had heard in general but also to make sure he had heard right. "You think Conall acts different around you when you're a boy?" He asks, knowing he sounds redundant and internally cringing at his own words. "He doesn't seem like the type to do that."

He really didn't. Even with Magnus's jealousy towards the other boy for dating Alex he had to admit he wasn't a bad guy (then again Magnus was fine with everyone as long as they weren't gits). He didn't treat Alex different as a boy before they started dating, not as far as Magnus could remember.

"I know!" Alex snapped at him. It was the first time since they walked into the room that she had looked him in the eye. "I have experience with people who do what you didn't think they would!"

She lowered her eyes again and focused on the fabric of her school trousers. "I just… I was waiting for him to do something these past few days, prove me wrong. I was waiting for him to kiss me like he normally does and he didn't. He only did this morning," Alex's voice broke, "after I was a girl again."

Once more, Magnus internally slapped himself for stating the obvious. "Have you talked to him about it?" It wasn't like he had any real experience with relationships but everyone always said that communication is key.

Alex threw her head back in exasperation. "Ugh! No! That's the problem! I know I should talk to him and I don't think he's doing this intentionally, not really, but…" Alex trailed off. She raised her legs onto the couch and hugged them close to her chest. Magnus had the sudden urge to wrap her in a blanket and bring her hot chocolate to make her feel better.

"I'm scared," she said in a small voice. "This… it reminds me too much of how things were like before I came to Hogwarts."

"…What were things like before?" Magnus asked hesitantly. He regretted his words immediately as Alex hugged her legs tighter. He spoke quickly, waving his hands frantically as he tried to take his words back. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to! It's okay!"

Alex shook her head. "No, it's… it's fine. It was like… I wasn't me. I mean, I was, but I couldn't act like that. Not around others. I didn't really have friends at Durmstrang, more like people I knew that didn't mind being around me. They were "friends" with me," Alex made huge air quotes with her fingers, "but not actually me. Who they knew was "Alexander Fierro"," air quotes once again, "heir to the Fierro fortune. I knew they wouldn't act the same if they knew I wasn't always a boy. I heard the things they said."

Magnus didn't need Alex to elaborate on that. He knew people could say really horrible things either because they didn't understand or because they didn't know any better. After he started questioning whether he didn't liked only girls, every time someone would make a mean comment about homosexual or bisexual people it felt like a jab for him. The ignorant insults felt personal and they hurt.

"There was a girl at Durmstrang I was close to," Alex went on. "We talked more and she didn't seem to care about my family. I knew that she had a gay brother so I hoped she'd be more open than the others…"

X, she didn't even want to think her name anymore, had told Alex about her brother and while she had said her parents weren't so happy, it was obvious she loved her brother dearly. They wrote letters to each other frequently and she would always bring him up in conversation. It made Alex feel a lot more comfortable, the fact that she knew for sure there was someone more accepting.

"She wasn't. I told her everything, I confided in her. I felt like a weight had been taken of my shoulders." Alex let out a small, bitter laugh and Magnus only understood she was crying when her voice broke. "She took that weight and hit me on the head with it. She spoke with the teachers, contacted my parents, made me a complete joke at Durmstrang."

Those last few months had been hell on earth for Alex. Every student would now refer to her as a girl and turn the word and the pronouns into sneers. They would give her 'girly' things like accessories, make up and skirts and throw slurs at her. They'd make sure she knew how little they liked her. Even the teachers would emphasize her full name whenever they talked to her and make sure they used boy even when they didn't need to.

Honestly, spending the summer at the streets had almost been a relief after that.

"The moment the school year ended my parents told me that they don't want me coming back to their house." A sob shook Alex's body and she wiped away the tears from her eyes furiously. "I mean, I was kind of expecting it, to be honest. I have no illusion that my parents ever cared about me. They would have thrown me out the moment Loki left me at their door if it wouldn't have destroyed their image."

Magnus scooted closer to Alex without a second thought and put an arm around her shoulders. He pulled her close and held her to his chest. He didn't know what he should do to help Alex but his instincts screamed at him to hug her, as if it would shield her from the pain. If only.

Another thing his instincts told him to do was find the girl Alex told him about and have her and Alex's parents endure horrible punishments. As tempting as the thought was, it would have to wait.

"So, yeah," Alex said as she buried her face in Magnus's sweater. "I'm scared. Mean words from strangers are one thing, but a person I'm friends with? Even worse, in a relationship with?" She shook her head and Magnus felt her hair rub against his clothes.

"I don't want to lose the people I trust," she said quietly.

Magnus tightened his arms around her. "You won't. You'll always have Sam, Mallory, T.J and Halfborn and me. You're not getting rid of us this easily."

Alex laughed weakly. She stopped hugging her knees in favor of hugging him back. "Damn it."

Magnus chuckled. "I still think you should talk to Conall. If it's just a misunderstanding then it's better to get it out of the way as soon as possible. You don't want a misunderstanding to ruin your relationship, you," God, this hurt to say, "you two look good together."

Even though I keep wishing it was me you kissed instead of him, Magnus thought but kept it to himself.

"And if you are right about Conall… well, same thing, you want to get it out of the way as soon as possible."

Alex nodded. "Thank you," she mumbled.

They fell into silence. Somehow Magnus had ended up propped against the arm of the couch with Alex hugging him and practically lying on top of him. Their breathing had seemed to synchronize and Magnus found himself playing with Alex's hair. The silence was only broken by the crackling of the fire in the fireplace.

"Hey, Alex? Can I ask something?" He asked after a few moments.

"Hm?" Alex shifted so that she was supporting her weight by her elbows and she was looking straight at Magnus.

"Why did you ask me for advice? I've never been in a relationship myself, wouldn't it be more logical to ask Mallory or even Sam?"

Alex didn't speak for a moment as she herself seemed to be wondering why she did go to Magnus for help. She hadn't thought about it much, honestly.

"I trust you," she finally said. "You make me feel at peace."

Alex was looking at him it the eye and Magnus could not look away. He never could with Alex's eyes. They were just so captivating. It was as if an actual physical force wouldn't let him look anywhere that wasn't Alex Fierro's eyes or face.

Her skin was darker than his. Not as dark as Sam's, but definitely dark. It looked smooth and Magnus knew she probably had clay or paint stuck in her nails. Her hair was a mop of green locks that looked so fluffy and felt as good to the touch as you'd expect. Her eyes were pulls off molten gold and chocolate respectively and this close to her he could see the individual specks of color in them. Her mouth was slightly open, he lips full and pink and probably so smooth. Magnus knew exactly how they moved when she talked or when she laughed.

Alex was in a similar state. She hadn't realized how right her statement was until she spoke the words and she couldn't say they weren't a hundred percent true. Magnus, with his dirty blonde hair and atrocious haircut, his geeky outbursts and eyes like the sky on a cloudy day had a calming effect on Alex she hadn't noticed until now.

Weird, because her heart felt anything but calm now, beating a mile a minute as her eyes were somehow fixated on Magnus's lips. They were a pink worthy of make-up companies yet a bit chapped from him biting on them all the time and they were moving closer and closer as they both leaned in almost instinctively.

I wonder what it'll be like to kiss Magnus.

I wonder what it'll be like to kiss Alex.

That was the last thought they both had before their minds just shut down. Nothing else mattered, not now. They were alone in the Room of Requirement, they were lying on a couch by a fireplace with an old frayed blanket covering their feet and they felt calm. They were in their own little personal bubble where time, or the lessons they were late to didn't exist.

They didn't matter. All that mattered at that moment, all they wanted to pay attention to was each other's warmth, each other's eyes and each one's breath that ghosted over their lips as they moved closer.

They were a breath apart when the moment was shattered and their bubble popped by an especially loud crack in the fire as a log broke in half. Magnus and Alex jerked at their seats and snapped out of their dazes. Suddenly what they almost did dawned on them and all the things that didn't exist in their bubble came crushing back,

"I, uh, um… sh-should we go to class?" Magnus stammered out as he sat up straight hurriedly. He moved so hastily that he accidently knocked foreheads with Alex. The Slytherin girl moved back with an "Ow!" and pressed her palm against her head. She tried to get off the couch as quickly as possible but her legs - and Magnus's for that matter- were tangled up in the old blanket and she lost her balance as she tried to stand up.

"Ugh." She groaned as she fell off the couch on her knees.

"Are- are you alright?" Magnus asked. His hands dangled awkwardly in the middle between them, wanting to help her out but also feeling like he wanted to bolt out of here as soon as possible after that.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Alex took Magnus's hand and got to her feet. A second passed before they both realized they were still holding hands and when they did they jumped almost a meter away from each other.

"I,uh, should be going," Magnus mumbled and pointed behind his back at the door. The poor boy looked like a fish out of water.

"Yeah, me- me too. Thank you for—for talking."

They both made for the door. The room that had felt so comfortably warm just a moment ago was like an inferno right now. Or maybe it was just their burning cheeks. They were blushing so hard that their skin was redder than the Gryffindor common (and that said something).

They reached for the doorknob simultaneously and their hands met, sending a small lightning bolt down each of their spines. They pulled them back as fast as they could, holding them to their chests like they had just been burnt.

"Uh, um, after you," Magnus said and gestured at the door.

"Th- thank you." They both stepped out of the room and the door disappeared from the wall the moment it closed behind them. "I, uh… b-bye. See you around, I-I guess?"

"Y-yeah, b-bye."

They stood where they were uncomfortable for a moment, looking everywhere but at each other. Alex was the first one to leave, soon followed by Magnus, and they both tried as hard as they could not to start running as fast as they could to their dorms.

At least not until they had turned the corner. One simple thought went through both their minds as they run to their respective lessons:

What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck

What the fuck did I just do?

/

Alex hadn't been able to pay attention to any of her classes for the rest of the day. Everything went by in a blur, whatever the teachers said went in through one ear and straight out the other. How was she supposed to pay attention to anything after that?

She had went to Magnus for advice, talked about her past with him and he helped her like the fucking ball of sunshine he was. The more she thought about it the more she realized she had meant what she had said. Magnus made her feel at peace, as cheesy as that may sound. They lay on the couch in silence and Alex had felt calm and comfortable.

And then she had to be an idiot and ruin everything! She had almost kissed him! Not only was Alex dating someone already, Magnus most probably didn't even like her like that!

…Did she like him like that?

He certainly wasn't hard on the eyes, that was for sure. Then again, she thought that for all her friends. She brought up Magnus's face in her mind, his fluffy blonde hair and his clear eyes and that little dimple on his left cheek whenever he smiled and her heart decided to do a backflip. She felt her cheeks heat and she bowed her head, pretending that she was taking notes.

W-well, just thinking he's pretty doesn't mean I like him like that, Alex though in obvious denial. Images of the two of them popped into her mind. They held hands as they walked and laughed together, they cuddled on Alex's bed in Perthro while watching movies and Magnus played with her hair, he kissed her sweetly on the lips at breakfast as goodmorning. With every new imaginary scenario her heart picked up the tempo and beat even louder.

The realization hit Alex like the Hogwarts Express and it took her a moment too long to realize that the lesson was over and she could leave for lunch. When she did, she quickly packed her stuff and run out the door to the closest bathroom. Thankfully, it was empty.

Alex splashed some water on her face and tried to calm her heart. She liked Magnus. She liked liked Magnus. She wanted to hold his hand and kiss him and cuddle and – oh, Merlin. Her heart skipped a beat every time she thought of that like she was in some stupid fanfic.

It dawned on her then that she had never reacted like that about Conall. She liked him, she didn't hate the guy, but she had never felt like the main character of a crappy YA novel. Hell, looking back at it, what she had thought when Conall asked her out was 'Sure, why not?'

She splashed water on her face again. Okay, let's review: she realized she might have never liked her boyfriend romantically to begin with, said boyfriend had been treating her differently whenever she was male so she had to talk to him about that and she almost kissed one of her best friends who she does like romantically but who probably doesn't feel the same way.

"Merlin's underpants," Alex muttered as she let her face fall in her hands. This sucks, why did people bother with feelings? She felt envious of T.J for being aro/ace and not having to deal with this shit.

Alex didn't realize how long she stayed in the bathroom muttering curses under her breath. She only left when a first year student walked into the bathroom to see her repeatedly hitting her head against the wall. The little girl looked at her very confused but Alex just walked out of the bathroom and headed to the Hall of the Slain to bury her feelings in food.

Elsewhere in the castle, Magnus was having a similar breakdown. His Professor was drowning on and on about something but Magnus wasn't paying attention to what- hell, he wasn't even sure what class he was in right now.

I almost kissed Alex I almost kissed Alex I almost kissed Alex. His mind was like a broken record player, repeating that phrase over and over until it felt like it had been tattooed on his brain.

He had fucked up, he had fucked up so badly. Alex didn't like him like that. They were friends, that's why she had come to him for help. He liked being her friend and yet he might have completely destroyed everything with what he just pulled. Alex had come to him for advice and what does his brilliant brain tell him to do? Try and kiss her! Marlin, he's an idiot.

Alex has a boyfriend, he reminded himself, even if they're having problems right now, they might work things out. And even if they didn't, even if they ended up breaking up, there was no way Alex liked him like that, not with how she had run as far away from him as soon as possible.

Magnus let his head fall on the desk behind his open book. Fortunately, he was sitting at the back of the room so the Professor wouldn't notice that he wasn't paying attention. He could feel the questioning stare from his fellow Hufflepuff dig into his back as he wondered what was wrong with Magnus and why he was lying on his desk like his life was over.

It might as well be.

Alex could hardly touch him after his little stunt. She fell on the ground trying to get off the couch and away from him for crying out loud! She snatched her arm back the moment they so much as touched! She probably found the idea of them dating repulsive.

Magnus groaned into his desk quietly. Nobody heard him, save for the boy that sat next to him and was still very confused as to what was happening with him.

"Mate, are you alright?" he asked in a hushed voice. The teacher didn't notice, too busy explaining something or the other.

"Just leave me here to die," Magnus mumbled back.

Even if he couldn't see the other kid's face he could feel the awkwardness roll of him in waves. There was a stiff little pat on Magnus's shoulder, like a silent 'hang in there', and he didn't disturb him for the rest of the lesson.

Magnus didn't say or do anything until the bell rang and he could leave for lunch, he spent the rest of the class period to wallow in his own self pity. He walked to the Hall of the Slain as is a haze and all he wanted was to stuff his face with food until he was too full to think of anything else.

What he or Alex hadn't realized was that they ate lunch together and so they would have to face each other. Magnus preferred to go through the Imperius curse.

When Alex walked into the Hall of the Slain and walked over to table 19 to see Magnus's blonde head she wanted to turn around and run to the dungeons. Maybe she could talk some house-elf into giving her food so she wouldn't have to face Magnus so soon after the realization. Her heart was doing a drum solo just at the sight of his blonde head and she wondered if she could beat up her heart until it stopped doing that.

Conall waved at her. "Hey, Alex!"

Great, now they had all noticed she was here. She couldn't turn around to leave now. She made her way to their table and sat at the last free seat, which was, oh would you look at that, between Conall and Magnus. Honestly, was there some higher force or something that liked laughing at her pain and misery?

Saying that was the most awkward luch of their lives would be an understatement. With nine people sitting at the table they were already pretty crammed. Normally it wasn't so bad, but when Magnus and Alex felt like lighting had gone through them every time their elbows hit accidently it was. They tried their best not to look at each other, especially not in the eye, and by the end of it they felt like it would have been less exhausting to write an exam.

The only good thing was that they had both come to a decision on how to deal with their troublesome feelings by the time they had to leave for afternoon classes.

It's probably just a stupid crush, it'll go away in like a week, Alex tried to convince herself as she made her way to the greenhouse for Herbology, refusing to accept how much like a lie that sounded even to her.

I should just try to forget about it, Magnus told himself as headed to Charms. I probably don't stand a chance anyway.

If any of their friends knew the whole situation from both sides and were listening to their thoughts right now they would have face-palmed. Those idiots.

*hides under the bed* PLEASE DON"T KILL ME!

Actually, you would be right to kill me, I would do the same in your place, but still!