Call It Home - Prinxiety [COMPLETED]

Chapter Ten: An Unbiased View

Roman wasn't really sure how to feel about going to DADA class. Just a day and a half ago, the darkly dressed boy that he shared the period with was an adversary. Now, he wasn't certain where they stood.

With awkward help from Patton, the home-schooled wizard had been invited to the Quidditch game that was coming up on Wednesday. It took a bit of prodding and reassurance that the Hufflepuffs would be most welcoming of his presence in the stands for him to actually agree to it. However, the facts stood that Patton had done most of the talking and the darkly dressed boy only looked more nervous whenever he opened his mouth.

The Gryffindor must had been lost in thought thinking about this because before he knew it, Professor Strix was calling his name. "Roman! Dear boy, your head's in the clouds today," he chuckled. "You've got to find a partner to practice the Reductor Curse with. Oh! I think Virgil is by himself, you can practice with him!"

Virgil looked toward them at the mention of his name but immediately dropped his gaze nervously upon realizing who the teacher was talking to. With a reluctant sigh, he made his way over to the darkly dressed boy.

He was practicing on one of the dummies, specifically the one closest to the corner of the room; it was clear to Roman that the boy had made an attempt to stay as far away from his peers as possible to avoid having to find a partner. It made him roll his eyes, not understanding his determination to be a social outcast.

Okay, none of that today, he told himself with a sigh. You're trying to see him in an unbiased way. You're trying to be friendly! I just wish he wasn't so weird...

Forcing a smile, he cleared his throat as he reached Virgil. He jumped a little even though he'd seen him coming. "Greetings, Professor Strix told me to partner with you to learn the Reductor Curse. I'm afraid I was a bit distracted during his lesson. Do you mind showing me how it's performed?"

"Uh, sure, but I might not be very good at teaching," Virgil replied, shuffling awkwardly.

Roman concealed a wince at his behavior, wondering if he was coming across as too formal or intimidating. He cleared his throat again and stepped up to face the dummy, looking at the house-less student expectantly for instructions.

"R-Right, so you move your wand like this," he drew a shape, "and you say Reducto to cast the spell."

The Gryffindor nodded and tried it, calling out the incantation with confidence and flicking his wand how he'd thought he'd seen Virgil do it. However, the dummy didn't even move. He frowned, feeling frustration bubbling up as he huffed. "Of course, it didn't work! This always happens," he bemoaned. "I happen to daze off one time and suddenly I can't do anything right!"

"Hey it's fine, you just need to adjust your hand motion," the darkly dressed boy said quickly. He sounded nervous, but surprisingly, he stepped forward and put a hand over Roman's. He guided it to point his wand at the dummy. "It's a quick movement, like this."

He had him trace it in the air, making him realize what he'd done wrong. Virgil stepped back and nodded to the dummy. "Try again," he said with encouragement in his voice.

"Okay," Roman murmured, eyes still wide from the shock of the other boy willingly touching him when he seemed to hate all physical contact. He looked at the dummy again and focused. He remembered the motion correctly this time, flicking his wand and casting the curse. "Reducto!"

The spell it the dummy with enough force to send it wheeling into to the wall behind it. "Whoa," he breathed in surprise.

"Yeah, that's it," Virgil said, shrugging. "I mean, the curse is supposed to turn solid objects to dust and stuff, but the dummies are built so that they won't break like that so the school doesn't have to worry about replacing them constantly."

"How'd you figure that out?" the Gryffindor asked, lips quirking upwards in a half smile.

A rosy blush appeared on the darkly dressed boy's cheeks as he ducked his head. "W-Well, I- uh- I guess I r-read about it once?" he stammered, fidgeting with his wand. "I kind of just guessed cause it wouldn't make sense to be constantly replacing or repairing the dummies in these instances, so I figured that they were meant to be indestructible."

"Well, thanks for your help, I appreciate it," he said, nodding to him. Virgil nodded nervously and kept his gaze on the floor. It hit him then how scared he was and that his 'weird behavior' and 'desire to be a social outcast' was actually just the effects of anxiety. It was more obvious to him now that while they'd both been rude to each other in the past, it probably hurt him far more than it had bothered Roman. He hadn't been able to recognize it until he saw Virgil behave 'normally' around friendlier people like Patton. He bit his bottom lip and tried to think of something to say. "Look, in the library, I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to lose my temper-"

The house-less student shook his head. "It's fine- I mean- I lost mine too," he admitted. "And I probably shouldn't have been humming in a library anyway."

"There was no one else around and you weren't harming anyone, not to mention, I was being rude by staring at you," Roman said. He then extended his hand to him and offered a smile. "Why don't we call a truce? We were both rude and we both recognize that and apologized, so let's be friends or at least be nice to each other, okay?"

Virgil looked down at the hand and hesitantly took it, shaking it slowly. "So you're coming to my game on Wednesday, right?" he asked with a smirk. "You'll get to see why we Gryffindors get the reputation for Quidditch that we do!"

"Yeah, sure," the other boy replied, smiling a bit to himself as the princely boy chuckled.