The next morning when Kurt and Blaine passed each other in the corridor on the way to breakfast, Blaine gave Kurt the iciest look he could manage. Kurt only ignored the look and brushed past the Gryffindor to enter the Great Hall. Their classmates traded confused looks, wondering what had happened.
"What was all that about?" Mercedes asked as she took the seat next to Blaine. It was usually reserved for Kurt but the Ravenclaw Prefect had taken up a spot at his own table, sitting as far away from the Gryffindor table—and Blaine—as possible.
"We broke up," Blaine said coldly and stabbed a sausage viciously with his fork.
"What? Why?" Mercedes asked. Blaine glared at the Ravenclaw for a second before resuming his stabbing of the sausage.
"I don't want to talk about it," he told his fellow Prefect.
"When did this happen?" Mercedes asked.
"Last night," Blaine informed her coolly. Mercedes' brows furrowed in confusion.
"When last night?" she asked. She had seen the couple at dinner the night before and everything had seemed just fine then.
"It doesn't matter," Blaine muttered. "We're just not together anymore."
Mercedes opened her mouth to ask another question but Blaine gave her a cool look.
"Just drop it, Mercedes. I really don't want to talk about it."
The dark-skinned girl let out a sigh but closed her mouth. Since Hogwarts was so tightly knit together, she knew it would only be a matter of time before everything came spilling out.
It didn't take long for rumors to start flying. Blaine wasn't surprised. He was no fool. He knew that his conversation with Mercedes would have easily been overheard by some of his fellow Gryffindors and even by students at other tables. The Great Hall echoed too much for their conversation to not have been overheard.
"Is it true?"
Blaine jerked his head away from his Herbology book as Jeff, the Hufflepuff Prefect sat down in front of him.
"Is what true?" he asked, feigning ignorance. Jeff scowled at him.
"We've been friends forever, Blaine. You know what I'm talking about," Jeff said. Blaine sighed.
"Yes, it's true," he informed the blond boy.
"Why?"
Blaine gave a heavy sigh. He had been asked this question hundreds of times and lunch had just started.
"I'm sorry, Jeff, but it's honestly none of your business," he replied. The Hufflepuff frowned and muttered something under his breath that sounded remarkably like, "That's what Kurt said." Blaine ignored the comment.
"Is it a permanent thing?" Jeff asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Most break ups are," Blaine replied derisively. Jeff sighed.
"That's not right," he muttered. "You and Kurt were supposed to be the ones to make it. Are you sure—?"
"Yes," Blaine cut off Jeff before he could finish the question. "Quite sure."
Jeff sighed again and stood up. There was no reasoning with Blaine. From across the Great Hall, Jeff could see Quinn and Tina shaking their heads as they met his gaze. Kurt had apparently given them similar answers.
"It's not supposed to be like this," Jeff muttered as he joined his classmates at the Hufflepuff table. He spent the rest of lunch, watching both Kurt and Blaine shrug off the numerous questions with vague, cold answers. With each classmate they turned away, a plan began to formulate in Jeff's mind.
Kurt and Blaine were supposed to be together. They weren't meant to break up. Jeff was going to fix it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Jeff, what are you doing?" Blaine yelped as Jeff began dragging him down the hallway in the direction of the nearest broom closet.
"Fixing it!" Jeff growled as he continued to drag Blaine by his robes. Blaine attempted to break free but soon found he was unable to do so. When had the Hufflepuff Prefect gotten so strong?
"Fixing what?" Blaine asked as Jeff's words processed in his mind. His question was never. Instead, Nick appeared at Jeff's side and opened the door to the broom closet. Together, the two Hufflepuffs forcefully shoved Blaine into the tiny closet.
As soon as Blaine regained his balance, he spun around but the door to the closet was already slamming shut. Blaine cursed loudly as he heard the clicking of the lock.
"Dammit Jeff!" he cursed. "Fix what?"
"Us, I'd assume since we're both locked in here," a cool voice emerged from the darkness. Blaine stiffened at the familiar voice.
"Not bloody likely," he growled and pulled out his wand.
"So we agree on something," Kurt said dryly as Blaine muttered a quiet "Lumos." Light began emitting from the Gryffindor's wand, shining brightly in the darkness of the closet. Blaine scanned the closet and immediately spotted his ex-boyfriend, who was sitting on an overturned bucket calmly. From his resigned appearance, Blaine assumed that the Ravenclaw had been trapped in the broom cupboard for a few hours now.
Blaine scowled at Kurt for a second before turning back to the door. He resumed banging on it, hoping that someone—anyone—would hear him. Even a professor. Blaine would gladly deal with the embarrassment and the long lecture if it meant he could escape from this closet—and Kurt.
"There's a Silencing Charm on the door." Blaine could barely hear Kurt's comment over his banging. With a growl, Blaine turned to face the Ravenclaw.
"And Alohomora won't work?" he asked.
"The lock is on the other side of the door," Kurt said scathingly. Blaine could hear the "idiot" Kurt had refrained from saying tacked on at the end of the sentence.
With a frustrated cry, Blaine kicked at an overturned bucket, sending it flying to the other end of the tiny cupboard. The force of the kick caused the bucket to splinter and crack into pieces. Kurt winced at the noise when the wood connected with the stone wall.
Takinga deep breath, Blaine stared at the partially destroyed bucket for a few long seconds before looking around to find something to sit on. After his initial scan, Blaine concluded that he had effectively destroyed the only other bucket in the broom cupboard. Of course he would do something like that. Now all that was left to sit on was the cold stone floor.
Suddenly there was a rustling noise and a different bucket was being pushed in front of him. Blaine blinked and glanced over at Kurt, who was settling himself on the floor.
"Sit," the Ravenclaw ordered.
"I'm fine on the floor," Blaine said stubbornly. Kurt rolled his eyes and snorted.
"For a while. Then you would get cold and we both know what you're like when you're cold," he said. "Now save my ears and just sit on the bloody bucket."
Much to the Gryffindor's chagrin, Blaine felt slightly touched at Kurt's concern. Although the words were harsh, it was still obvious that Kurt was concerned. Blaine debated about sitting on the floor anyway but knew that Kurt was right. He was miserable when he was cold. After a few more seconds of hesitation, the Gryffindor took a seat on the overturned bucket.
The silence that followed was uncomfortable for both of the Prefects. Both felt that they should say something but couldn't come up with anything that was appropriate.
"So how long have you been in here?" Blaine finally asked. Kurt gave him a quick glance.
"Since morning break," he answered. "We were on the way to Transfiguration when Nick and Jeff shoved me in here. What time is it now?"
"Just after lunch," Blaine replied quietly. A faint look of irritation crossed Kurt's face.
"Those two are in trouble," he muttered under his breath. "I missed turning in two essays because of them."
Blaine gave a weak laugh. Same old Kurt.
After a few more minutes of silence, Blaine finally got up the courage to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind since he discovered Kurt and Sebastian together.
"Why did you do it?" he asked. Kurt didn't need any clarification about what it was.
"Why did you?" he asked in return. Blaine sighed.
"I don't know what happened," he admitted. "Sebastian was being the prat he always is and I just…snapped. It all happened so fast and before I knew it, I wanted more."
Kurt gave a humorless laugh.
"You found what you felt was missing," he said. Blaine's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, but Kurt didn't let him say anything. Instead, the Ravenclaw continued. "Just admit it. Something's been missing from our relationship for some time now."
"I never stopped loving you," Blaine said sadly.
"I know," Kurt replied. "I never stopped loving you too. I just couldn't stop."
Blaine nodded. He knew all too well what Kurt was describing. He had felt the same way. No matter how much he wanted to stop, he had been too addicted to Sebastian to actually do so.
"We shouldn't be together," Kurt said abruptly. Blaine glanced at him in surprise. "Otherwise this is just going to happen again," Kurt explained. "It's just a matter of time. No matter how much we love each other, there's always going to be something missing."
As much as Blaine didn't want to believe it, he knew Kurt was right. Kurt had always been right.
"We shouldn't," he agreed out loud. "We probably shouldn't even be friends anymore. I'll never be able to move on if we're still friends."
Kurt nodded silently and Blaine noticed that there were tears pricking at the corner of the Ravenclaw's eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Kurt cry. Blaine sniffled and, as he wiped his nose with his robe sleeve, noticed that tears were streaming down his cheeks.
"It was nice knowing you," Kurt said as he blinked away the forming tears. Blaine gave a watery laugh.
"It was nice knowing you, too," Blaine replied.
The silence between the two boys resumed but it was no longer uncomfortable. This time, there was a sense of finality to it. When the door opened a few hours later, Blaine got off his bucket and walked out the room, sending glares in Jeff and Nick's direction. He didn't look back at Kurt.
