The Exchange Student - Harry Potter FanFic -

➣ 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝟖 "𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝"

For the next minutes, Dorian stayed in silence, looking into the melted mercury pools that were Caelum's eyes, searching for any ounce of doubt, and finding none. Because Caelum did really trust he could do good, not caring that he was a Lestrange, or about all the relatives he had in Azkaban for the most hideous crimes.

Someone like Caelum, who's so light despite his family's name, shouldn't be friends with someone like Dorian. Someone who's dark, or at least, that's what everyone had said. But Caelum always refused to listen to any of them. Well, he generally refused to listen to anyone except for his mother, anyway.

"I know you have your heart in the right place," Caelum said, barely louder than a whisper, grabbing one of Dorian's hands. "And I'm very proud of you for that. I know you and Draco will sort out your stuff."

For a moment, looking at the boy who's been his best friend ever since the first day, back in the Hogwarts Express, Dorian saw how his sight started to slowly get blurry due to the wetness enveloping his eyes.

He nodded, squeezing Caelum's hand in return, before leaning his head on the other boy's shoulder, whispering a soft, "Thank you."

And they stood like that for about an hour more, until their asses were too numb from the hardness of the floor, and the sleep started to weigh over their eyelids. They stood up together, and Caelum used the Marauder's Map—borrowed from Nicolás—, to take Dorian back to the entrance of the Slytherin common room, before moving to Gryffindor Tower.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Care of Magical Creatures had always been, alongside alchemy, Nicolás' favorite subject to study. Not just because of his magical connection with animals and magical creatures, but because they were such interesting beings, it would be a waste not to study them.

Most of the creatures they had studied in the year, or he already knew them to expertise from the reserve, or he had studied them at his three years in Castelobruxo.

The Care of Magical Creatures' teacher was Professor Kettleburn; a shabby-looking man. He was in his sixties, and the poor man only conserved one of his arms and half a leg; the rest was compensated with magical prostheses, he was also missing an eye. He usually dressed in a Scottish skirt, with a big and old-looking coat.

It's not that Nicolás didn't like Professor Kettleburn per se, it was just that his classes were very disorganized and often chaotically dangerous. Being in class with him felt like having an overexcited and messy child giving instructions. He often came across as irrational, reckless, and borderline stupid.

For their final class of term, before the Christmas break, Professor Kettleburn decided to bring a Leucrotta.

Those were fascinating creatures, and one of the few Nicolás never had the privilege of meeting. At first sight, they looked like common large moose, with the exception of the lion-like mane they had, that looked like a beard. And the fact that their mouth could open as wide as to ten times the size of their head, being able to fit an entire adult human in it.

They had been tasked with cleaning their teeth. After speaking with the creature, Nicolás understood that Leucrottas didn't like the contact with their teeth —as they were hypersensitive and painful—, but there was nothing a simple Cleaning Spell couldn't solve.

Leucrottas were also able to mimic the sounds and voices they heard in their surroundings, giving them an advantage at survival in the wild.

Nicolás and Caelum were the first ones to clean their Leucrottas' teeth with a quick Cleaning Spell, Cedric took a little longer to finally calm his Leucrotta so he could get to its teeth and clean them.