Muggle and Deaf! AU.
Written for Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
House: Thunderbird
Class: Magical Theory
Task: Nonverbal Magic: deaf au
Word Count: 922/1000
Language Barrier
When Regulus caught sight of the title, he looked even more bewildered. "Why are you reading a book about British Sign Language?"
Rabastan sighed and dropped his head into his palms. "It's for… Hermione."
Regulus looked confused when he found Rabastan sitting on his bed in their university dorm room with a book in his lap and his hands flailing around awkwardly. "What the hell are you doing, Bast?"
"Nothing!" Rabastan quickly attempted to shove the book under his bed, but Regulus lunged at him, knocking him onto the bed and yanking it from his hands. "Give it back, Reg! It's mine!"
Regulus snickered and asked, "Yours? I didn't even know you could read."
Rabastan scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Give me the book and sod off, mate."
When Regulus caught sight of the title, he looked even more bewildered. "Why are you reading a book about British Sign Language?"
Rabastan sighed and dropped his head into his palms. "It's for… Hermione."
"The new girl who doesn't even know you're alive?"
"She knows I'm alive — she's just… I didn't know she was deaf," Rabastan muttered, frowning in consternation. "It doesn't matter to me, but I just thought I should learn sign language to communicate with her. I really want to go out with her."
Regulus was surprised by how… thoughtful Rabastan was, and he tossed him the book. "I didn't expect you to ever have any good ideas, but miracles do happen, don't they?"
Rabastan flipped him off and flipped through the pages, trying to find the page he had been at before Regulus had interrupted him. He really liked the girl and wanted to get to know her, but it wouldn't be possible if he didn't learn sign language soon.
After a few weeks of practising, Regulus finally decided it was time for Rabastan to go up to the brunette girl and introduce himself. Rabastan was terrified he would mess up, and his fears weren't unfounded.
When he sat down across from the girl and waved his hand at her in greeting, Hermione looked up at him curiously, and he forgot all the signs he had memorized. His mind went blank in his panic, but he calmed down a bit when she smiled at him and said in perfect English, "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger. And you are?"
Rabastan's heart thudded painfully as he thought of all the letters he had studied in the BSL book. He remembered how to spell a few letters, but they weren't the letters in his name. In his panic, he grabbed her hand and shook it furiously. He scrambled to grab a pen from his bag and almost cursed when he realized the pen had gone dry.
Hermione looked at him with confusion, her hand still in Rabastan's. "Are you okay?"
Rabastan quickly gave her a thumbs-up, still searching for another pen. He gave up and turned to her, his face revealing his anxiety. He noticed Regulus standing nearby, a hopeful look in his eyes, and Rabastan took a deep breath in. He stared at her hand and slowly drew the letters of his name on her palm.
"R-A-B-A-S-T-A-N… L-E-S-T-R-A-N-G-E… Oh! Your name's Rabastan? Nice to meet you, Rabastan. You don't have to spell everything out — I'm good at reading lips," Hermione said with a soft smile.
Rabastan felt his heart constrict when he saw her smile. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and he wanted her to smile at him again. He gained some confidence and decided to ask her out.
He had signed the first three words when he suddenly realized he had forgotten the signs for the rest of his question. His hands awkwardly stopped in between them, and Hermione frowned. "You want me to go? Why would you introduce yourself to me if you only wanted to tell me to go?"
Rabastan accidentally started waving his hands as he stammered, "No, it's not that! I didn't mean that!"
"You've pissed yourself?" Hermione asked, staring at his hands with bewilderment. "What?"
Rabastan dropped his head onto his palms and groaned. What was wrong with him? Couldn't he just ask her out without messing it up? Hermione placed her hand on his shoulder and asked, "What's the problem? Do you want me to go? Help you with making notes?"
Forgetting the fact that she knew how to read lips, Rabastan gazed at her and murmured, "How do I ask you to go out with me?"
"Oh, so that's what you were doing?" Hermione asked, stunned. "I thought you were telling me to leave because you had pissed yourself! At least that's what your hands were telling me."
Rabastan moaned with embarrassment and sobbed, "Oh, God! I'm an idiot!"
Hermione giggled and reached her hand out to squeeze his. "I think it's sweet. Did you try to learn sign language? For me?"
Rabastan shyly nodded, his wavy hair falling in his eyes, as he looked down at their joined hands. He couldn't believe she was holding his hand; he felt like a prepubescent boy with his first crush. He knew there was something different about her.
"That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me," Hermione admitted softly. "If you want, I could… teach you a bit more."
Rabastan immediately nodded, delighted that she didn't think he was a dork. "Uhh, about that date…"
"If you manage to impress me with your sign language skills by the end of this week, we can go out for coffee," Hermione said with a smile, and Rabastan resisted the urge to squeal in joy. He was a man, and he would deal with it in the manly way. With an air fist-bump — and inwardly squealing.
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