A/N: I forgot to put a disclaimer on the first chapter, so here it is. I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts or anything else linked to the books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them.
Chapter 2
I'm not sure exactly when my feelings for Vincent developed into something more. I didn't wake up one morning and realise that I was in love with him or anything. A lot of things happened to make me admire him, and things just sort of went on from there.
Six weeks into the term, we bumped into Marcus Flint in the corridor. Ever since I've known him we have been enemies, and he takes great delight in calling me a freak. Normally I can just ignore it, especially when I'm on my own. This time however, I found myself being humiliated in front of my closest friend and that hurt. Vincent looked his straight in the eyes and asked him whether it was his mother or father who was the troll. Marcus pushed him and my friend hit him straight in the face, knocking one of his ugly teeth loose. Harry and his friends were walking past along with Fred and George. They of course, thought that it was completely amusing, and I must admit, I don't blame them. It could have got nasty, but Professor Snape came along and Marcus backed off after warning Vincent that he had made a very dangerous enemy. I was worried for him, but Vince just laughed and said that he wasn't scared of Flint.
Not long after, we had an important Quidditch match against Slytherin and two of our chasers went down with flu. Damon Brockwell was an excellent player and I'd already promised him that he could play if there was a space, so he went in. Vincent went in the other space, he hadn't had much experience at Quidditch, but he was a brilliant flyer and I knew that he would try his best. For once, I was almost confident that we wouldn't lose. We couldn't afford to. As it turned out, putting Vincent against Marcus Flint was a bad idea.
The game got off to an okay start. Slytherin got one past me, but we got four goals, two of them scored by Vincent. The three chasers worked well as a team and they certainly didn't let the team down. But then Flint decided to play dirty again.
Grabbing the bat from one of his beaters, he hit the Bludger towards Vincent.
"Vincent" Damon called from the other side of the pitch. "Watch out…"
His warning came too late. Vincent turned to see what was happening and the Bludger caught him on the side of the head, knocking him clean off his broomstick. He hit the ground and we all heard the loud snap as the bones in his arm broke. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape leapt to their feet and hurried over to him. Professor Hooch blew her whistle, signalling that we were to stop. Damon glanced at me as we flew down to see if he was okay. He wasn't. His eyes were closed and his face was pale white. We could see that his head was bleeding, where the Bludger had caught him.
"Take him to the hospital wing" Dumbledore told Snape. "Don't worry, he'll be just fine when he wakes up. Now, do you wish to continue with the game?" he asked, looking directly at me.
"No" I said without hesitation, surprising even myself. "My friend is hurt and I want to be with him"
"Fair enough" Dumbledore agreed. "The match is cancelled. Go to the hospital wing and tell them that I sent you"
Damon gave me a smile as I hurried off to find out how my friend was.
Vincent was awake again by that evening, although he was dizzy and not quite with it. His arm was in a sling too, in order to keep any pressure off it. We talked for a while, then he went back to sleep. I took that time to slip off to the bathroom and cut myself, it was my fault that Vincent was hurt and I felt that I had to punish myself for it.
When I went back to him, he was still asleep his black hair falling in his eyes. And as I looked down at him, I realised with a start that I had stopped a Quidditch match to be with him. I wasn't sure what had processed me to do such a thing, but I didn't regret doing it, not for one second. I reached over and gently pushed the hair from his eyes. As I did, Vincent opened his eyes and looked up at me.
"Hello Oliver" he began to say, then his eyes went to my arm, which was still bleeding heavily. Strangely enough, he didn't look shocked or angry or disgusted. If anything he looked upset.
"You need to bandage that" he said matter of factly. "Get me some bandages and I'll see what I can do"
"Aren't you going to say anything?" I asked, as I got what he wanted, sat down on his bed and extended my arm. "Like how stupid I am for doing it. Flint's right, isn't he? I am a freak. But I…I have to do it" I fought hard to keep the tears from appearing, I'd never talked to anyone about it before, never had anyone who had cared the way he did.
"No you aren't a freak," he said patiently. "And no, I'm not going to tell you that you are stupid for doing it. I knew, Oliver. I saw you on our first night. Besides" he continued, as he finished with my arm and settled back. "You aren't the only one who does it. Look" With a lot of difficulty, he pulled up the sleeve of his right arm and I could see the various scars, only his didn't look recent.
"I stopped when I went to live with Snape" Vincent confided. "Well I've done it once or twice since then, but not often. The Professors know, but I prefer to keep it hidden from the other students. Maybe that is why McGonagall put us together. Anyway, don't worry about it, I won't say anything" He seemed about to say more, but his eyes closed and his head slumped to the side as he fell asleep again.
I sat there for two hours, just watching him sleep. And as I did, I realised something. Something that I had been trying to fight but with little success. I was falling in love with him. I was falling for Vincent Darkshield, my best friend…
