Chapter Three

'Hey! Over here!' Athena whispered to Noah as he crept towards their meeting place. 'I thought you were going to ditch on us! Where were you?'

'Sorry .' He answered under his breath. 'It's further from my common room you know!'

'Whatever, let's go!' Athena turned on her heels and advanced along the hallway, hugging the walls. Noah and Luke followed her closely. They walked like this in complete silence, the adrenaline pumping through them with every step. Occasionally Noah would look back at Luke who would give him a nervous smile, but Athena walked without hesitation, confidently advancing as if sneaking up on prey. Without warning she stopped, looked back at them, and lifted a single finger signalling that they should wait.

Athena walked out straight into the Entrance Hall. Luke and Noah looked at each other, expressions of pure bafflement on their faces. Their instinct was to keep out of sight, but morbid curiosity made them peek from behind the wall to watch what they assumed was going to be a train-wreck.

'It's after hours, get to bed!' said a voice from the darkness. Luke and Noah winced, but were amazed to see Athena walking towards this familiar voice.

'Hi Pilfer,' Athena said calmly. 'Sorry I'm out late, I couldn't sleep and fancied a wander.'

'Is that you Tina?' the caretaker said, an amused smile on his lips. 'More wandering? Haven't you seen the whole castle yet?'

'There's a few dungeons I haven't checked out.' Athena quipped.

Pilfer chuckled. 'Don't you know that I'll get in trouble if I just let you wander the halls? Why don't you count owls like everybody else?' Pilfer had gotten to know Athena quite well over the past month, and her assertiveness amused him. After weeks of sending her back to bed every single night, they had gotten to know each other. The castle got quite lonely at night, so it was nice to have someone to talk to.

'Can't you just walk the other way like you usually do? Please? You can't get into trouble if you don't see me!' Athena smiled up at him. They went through this routine every night.

'Agh okay,' Pilfer sighed, pretending to be convinced, 'But don't get up to any mischief, okay?' He shook his head but there was a smile plastered on his face as he walked in the opposite direction.

When Athena walked back to where the boys were hiding, she found them staring at her with their jaws dropped. 'There's no time to waste!' she whispered forcefully, 'C'mon!'

'You're a little scary sometimes, you know that?' Luke whispered, as he followed her into the Entrance Hall. Noah always noticed that the main doors to the school seemed to tower over him, but when they were closed they seemed to loom even larger, dwarfing him. Athena cracked open a window that she had deliberately left unlocked on her way back from the dining hall. She signalled to the boys to climb down and they did so, helping Athena down last as it was quite a far jump.

Under the darkening sky, there was a cool breeze on the castle grounds. Instead of sheltering themselves from the cold, they opened their cloaks wide, leaning their heads back to feel the wind going through their hair. Athena spun around wildly before suddenly realizing they hadn't yet completed their task. She impatiently signalled them to follow her as if she was the only one concentrating on the goal. They solemnly followed her towards the Whomping Willow, all three suddenly realizing that they'd somehow have to reach the great willow's knot, and that that the tree would definitely put up a fight.

This procession went on towards the tree in perfect silence. Stopping before it, they looked at each other, waiting for someone to speak. Finally, Noah cleared his throat.

'Okay, Luke, stand over there.' He pointed adjacent to himself. 'And Athena, over there. So we make a kind of triangle.' Nobody else seemed to have an idea, so they complied without a word. 'Okay, pretty simple, if it comes too close to me you guys distract it, alright?' He looked at each of them directly in the eyes, and then took a deep breath. 'Wands out.'

'Careful,' said Athena, complying. She too looked at each of them and then to the tree, as if in battle. Luke too stood braced for the oncoming confrontation. Wand out and legs shoulder width apart, he sent a crooked smile in Noah's direction.

With confidence mustered from his friends' support, Noah walked into the wrath of the tree. Instantly a huge branch swung in his direction and he dropped to the ground, using his arms to crawl steadily closer. To protect their friend, both Luke and Athena stepped forwards and they were instantly in the crossfire. Noah looked up for a second to see sparks flying out of Luke's wand and Athena flying in the air, holding on fiercely to one of the tree's limbs. With a final burst of speed, Noah touched the knot and everything froze still. Athena jumped down and Noah stood up, both wiping the dirt and bark off their robes.

They stood there for a minute and looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Noah felt he was on top of the world as the three of them wrapped their arms around each other in a great embrace. Shrugging her shoulders, Athena suggested they go down into the hollow of the tree.

'Lumos' Noah said under his breath. In the wandlight, they could dimly see the moist clearing under the tree. Still confident from his success against the tree, Noah walked towards a passageway in the corner, motioning his friends to follow.

It felt like they had been walking forever. Noah looked back at Athena questioning whether they should go back, but she always waved him forwards. The seemingly endless passage stretched out the suspense. Remembering that it was meant to lead to Hogsmeade, Noah kept walking until there was a sudden turn in the passage and a set of steps.

The trio walked up the steps. Running through their heads were all the horrible possibilities that could lie within. Noah opened the door.

It took a second for him to adjust his eyes to the light, but what he saw made him cover his mouth in surprise. Two boys, one of them in Hogwarts robes, sat inside a dilapidated room. They were on a large wooden bench strewn with parchment and ink. The Hogwarts student was sort of lying in the other boy's arms and their hands were clasped. The boy in plain black robes ran his lips across the other boy's forehead and they looked at each other intensely.

Noah ran. Luke looked back at him but Athena's curiosity got the better of her and she peeked her head in. The plain robed boy saw her and Luke through the partially-opened door and his black eyes burned with rage. With an aggressive swish of his wand the door slammed closed.

Following their friend, Luke and Athena sprinted all the way back to the immobilized tree. Panting, they climbed up and found their friend sitting beneath it, eyes wide.

'They...they saw us.' Athena said, out of breath. She let her legs crumble beneath her to sit next to her friend. Luke followed suit.

Luke looked at Noah who looked frozen in place, his face white and his eyes wide. 'I. Um, I forgot that muggles aren't as, um, advanced as wizards are, socially' Luke explained gently, 'You see, later on in muggle history it will be acceptable to be gay but not yet.'

Noah spluttered, not knowing what to say 'There are queer wizards!' he exclaimed finally. He looked disgusted. 'They were almost, almost kissing!'

Luke smiled. 'Don't call it queer, and yeah there are gay wizards. I actually think I might be gay, maybe. It's totally acceptable in the wizarding world.'

Noah stared at him. Everything in his upbringing told him sodomites were unclean, unnatural. He didn't know what to say. 'What did you mean later on in Muggle history?' he said, finally.

'Oh yeah,' Luke responded warmly, 'There's a prophesy, everybody knows that. The twenty-first century is when everything changes.'

'The twenty-first century!' Noah exclaimed, 'That's in...' he paused, unable to do the math. 'That's ages from now!'

Luke shrugged his shoulders and stood up and offered his hand to help Noah up. 'C'mon. Let's get back inside'

Noah hesitated for a second but took his friend's hand and the three walked back towards the castle.