Chapter Four
The next morning, Noah barely stumbled into consciousness. He hadn't gotten back until eleven the night before and with all the excitement he had found it hard to sleep. Realizing it was a weekend, he rearranged his pillow and tried to re-capture the feeling of comfort and contentment he enjoyed before waking. In no time at all he was back wrapped in Luke's arms. They lay on the big blue couch in the empty Ravenclaw common-room, lazily throwing bits of parchment into floating inkpots, and giggling at each other's jokes.
Suddenly, he shot up out bed. Trying to forget his dream he instantly got changed into a robe to have a shower. Pushing all his thoughts to the side, Noah searched for his shampoo and soap and arranged them in a much more organized manner than usual. He successfully avoided thinking of anything but cleaning for the first few minutes, but eventually his mind wandered as the water streamed down. What on earth was up with that dream? It wasn't only that he dreamed it, but that he willed himself to dream it a second time! Did he have feelings for Luke? Was he gay? He shuddered at the thought. No, it was just a dream of being close to Luke, he said to himself. He was a bit jealous of Luke and Athena having so many more in-jokes and stories together and so it ended up in his dreams. Jealosy! What a bad emotion. He promised himself that he would no longer let himself be jealous.
He got dressed and walked down to the common room, carefully avoiding the purple couch.
'Hey Noah, Luke's out there waiting for you!' one of his classmates shouted at him from across the room.
'Shit! Thanks Jess!' he shouted back at her before she disappeared up the staircase.
'Where the hell were you?' Luke asked as Noah stepped out onto the spiral staircase. Luke stood up and started walking down the many stairs.
'I'm so sorry.' Noah responded meekly. 'I slept in and completely forgot.'
'Nah, it's alright,' Luke said with a big smile. 'I was tired too this morning after all the excitement!'
Noah swallowed, and then made a conscious decision not to allow himself to be bothered by yesterday's events or last night's dreams. 'Yeah, I couldn't sleep at all last night, too excited.' Noah answered confidently. 'Do you think if those people weren't there we could have gone to Hogsmede?'
Luke looked up at Noah to see if he looked troubled by what they saw the night before. Noah made sure that every muscle on his face looked relax and nonchalant. 'Yeah, maybe.' Luke answered, satisfied.
They reached the Entrance Hall which looked much more friendly and welcoming in the daylight. Leaving the castle, they started down one of the many paths. Suddenly, Noah stopped. 'That's him! That's the boy from yesterday!' Noah said, whispering forcefully. 'And who is that? Is that Athena's sister?'
Luke continued walking and gestured for Noah to follow. He walked straight towards them. After protesting under his breath, Noah finally followed, taking a seat at the bench a few metres behind them. Luke took a book and a pad of paper from his bag and handed the book to Noah. They sat there quietly, trying to overhear the conversation.
'Al! He's not good for you!' Athena's sister exclaimed, gesticulating wildly. 'He was expelled. He almost killed a kid at Durmstrang.
'It's okay, Min.' the boy said calmly. 'Everything's under control. I understand what you're saying but you're wrong. Gellert isn't bad. He has wild ideas to go with his brilliant mind. He has taught me things they wouldn't dream of teaching us in this place. Sometimes he gets a little carried away, but that's why he needs me. You wouldn't understand, Minerva.'
'Wouldn't understand? Is that right?' she responded crisply. 'Of course I wouldn't understand the brilliant mind of Albus Dumbledore.' She spoke quietly, but looked as if she could barely contain her anger.
'What happened to you?' she continued, 'You were courageous and noble and Griffindor! You treated everyone as equals, and accepted that others had skills you did not. A year ago you were a brilliant wizard. Now you are nothing compared to what you used to be. You are but a shell filled with dark magic and your precious pride!'
There was a moment of brief silence. Luke and Noah looked at each other and then back at the sparring duo. Albus stood up tempestuously only to have Minerva's hand pull him back down next to him.
'You are not going yet.' she said, her eyes fixed to his. 'You are going to listen to what I have to say.'
'Minerva, it's okay. Really, it is. I'm sorry for saying that you don't understand. Don't turn me into a newt!' Dumbledore smiled mischievously, trying to lighten the mood.
'Shut up,' She interrupted, hiding a smile 'You are blinded, Al.' Her voice softened. 'Love has blinded you from what he is, from what he is turning you into. Please, please just remember.' She paused a second, trying to find the perfect wording. 'Remember when we were in first year? This one time we were walking up the staircase and in your ever eloquent fashion you told me that I was going to be a great witch someday because I had will and grace. Will and grace. I remembered that. You used to have both will and grace. Now you have neither. Someday you're going to do something so bad that you won't be able to live with yourself. Some day you'll wake up from this stupor and see yourself clearly for the first time in years. You'll look in the mirror and see a monster. And on that day, promise me you'll find me.'
'I promise.' Dumbledore said dismissively
'Seriously!' Minerva raised her voice for the first time.
'Okay, okay I promise!' Dumbledore said looking at her. 'That's enough of this heavy stuff for one day! Let's do something amazing, something we did as kids. Let's...' With a single swish of his wand he created a large puddle in front of him containing a massive fish. 'Race ya!'
Minerva sighed, but took her wand out. With a single flick the puddle had taken over the entire path and two fish were swimming neck-and-neck towards the castle. They laughed hysterically as Minerva's fish grew boxing gloves and pushed Dumbledore's to the side.
Luke and Noah walked across the grass, narrowing avoiding the ever-growing pond that Minerva and Dumbledore were making.
'I guess he didn't see us' Luke said, relieved. 'But that was heavy stuff. Expelled from Durmstrang! Who is that kid? Maybe I'll ask Aaron.'
'Don't.' Noah said impulsively. Luke looked at him quizzically. 'I don't know, I just feel for the guy. It must be hard to be in love with someone wrong for you. I don't want to publicize it to the whole school! And from what you told me about Aaron...'
Luke smiled thinking of Aaron's constant gossip. 'Yeah I guess you're right' he replied.
They got to the dining room where they parted into house tables. 'Oh, your book!' Noah said, rushing back to hand it to him. As he gave back the book, Noah's hand touched Luke's. Electricity shot through Luke's body, paralyzing him with for a second.
'You okay there, bud?' Noah asked him, looking at him questioningly.
'Yeah fine, no problems' he said. Luke watched Noah walk towards his table. 'Dammit!' he said under his breath.