Welcome to Hogwarts(Boyxboy)

Chapter 14

The entrance hall echoed with the sound of talk and laughter of students returning from the holidays. Cole rocked up on his tiptoes and looked around, searching for the head of dark, curly hair that he hadn't seen in three weeks. He'd thought about trying to hunt him down on the train earlier, but had decided against it, instead simply waiting inside the entrance hall to catch a glimpse of Blaine.

His stomach wriggled happily when he caught sight of Blaine walking through the oak front doors, though the feeling changed to something like that of a lead weight being dropped inside of him when he saw Hummel walking alongside Blaine, clutching his hand and smiling about something.

Cole shook a little with anger. Hummel did not deserve Blaine. He simply didn't. He had...dreams, disgusting, inappropriate dreams, about boys other than Blaine. Straight—well, supposedly straight—boys at that. He glowered across the hall, watching Blaine, Hummel, and their friends moving up the marble staircase, chatting happily.

Marsh picked her way through the crowd towards him, half-grinning.

"Well, hello, partner," she said, stopping beside Cole and leaning against the wall next to him. "Good holiday?"

Cole grunted in reply, eyes still fixed to Hummel. He wondered if maybe there were acceptable reasons for using Unforgiveable Curses. Or even just for Transfiguring someone into the little snake they were. Sighing as Blaine and his friends disappeared around the corner, he turned to Marsh, who'd been examining her fingernails as she waited.

"Alright," he said. "What did you want?"

"Just checking that you haven't chickened out about you-know-what," Marsh said, not looking at him as she frowned at her peeling green fingernail polish.

"Of course I haven't," Cole said, glancing briefly at the spot where Blaine had disappeared.

"Good," Marsh said, grinning. "Because I've got the perfect plan. It's going to completely humiliate Hummel and Leighton."

"Yeah?" Cole said, perking up. "What is it?"

"You just leave that to me, my little partner in crime," Marsh said, smirking. "Just make sure you're ready to have some extra juicy commentary next Saturday when Slytherin and Ravenclaw play, got it?"

Cole squirmed with excitement. "Yeah, got it," he said a little breathlessly at the thought that Blaine might finally be free from that...hussy in just a few weeks.

"Alright, well, I've got to unpack," Marsh said, grabbing the handle of her trunk. "See you in Potions."

"Bye," Cole said distractedly, reaching into his bag and lightly fingering the little bottle of memories lying there with a small smile. Soon.

Returning to the Hogwarts routine was harder than Kurt had anticipated, mostly for the fact that N.E.W.T.s were now a lot closer than they'd been three weeks ago. His first Double Transfiguration period on Monday consisted of Professor Aldebrand spending twenty minutes going over a long list of topics they'd be covering over the next few months plus a packet of review papers that used enough parchment to have cost the lives of several trees.

Blaine was, of course, suffering the most, with returning to his Head Boy and Captain duties along with the insane workload, he was also starting to stress about his Tornadoes application, which his mother had mailed him their first day back.

After an exhausting first week—during which Blaine had either Quidditch practice or patrol every night—Kurt was fully prepared to spend the weekend sleeping. However, his pile of homework had grown alarmingly in just a few short days and he found himself holed up in the library Saturday afternoon with Blaine, Thad, Jeff, Nick, and Flint, attempting to make a dent in the long list of assignments.