Closed Secrets in the Margins PV Eldred Grayswell & Quentin Harrington

Spoken: #610000 Clothes: -

In record time, he arrived at the library after waking up. Due to the circumstances, he was wearing his usual Gryffindor uniform. It was a much more wrinkled on his arms than what‘ he considered comfortable, so he wore it rolled up to his elbows.
The polyester was missing, and the tie was messily tied around his white dress shirt‘s collar. In fact, Eldred had somehow managed to look on this Sunday as if he had been swapped place, with a more chaotic, evil twin brother. Unfortunately, there was no other way, as the student had overslept in a different student‘s bed and missed his alarm. Elsewise, he would have spent an extra hour getting ready properly.


He had assumed, from reading between the lines of the letter, that they were supposed to meet in the morning. So, he had rushed outside with uncombed hair, brushing his teeth quickly, dressing with the brush still in his mouth, and clamped the notebook under his arm to exit the Gryffindor Dormitory.

Eldred was slightly out of breath as he eventually entered the library and walked around students and shelves, searching for Linnéa. He took a deep breath of the dusty morning air and forced his heart to calm down from his sprint. His thoughts were still circling around the image from this morning—Sebastian Drake, sleeping like a rock under the duvet and Eldred's arm. Eldred could barely believe he cuddled up with him the day before!
The 12-year-old missed the presence of mind to fix his hair with the fingers. Normally, he‘d have done it while walking. The long, dark strands from the top of his head hung in his face, partially covering his eyebrows and eyes. They slightly curled to the left and upward, making him look just like his mother had originally intended: like a 'BadBoy‘. The young woman he called his mom had fallen in love with his dad back in first grade at Hogwarts. Before his old slytherin man became the most organized person on the planet, he had been a troublemaker with a trendy, cool haircut from first to third grade.
Eldred found it awful once his mom had finished cutting his hair. Hence he put a lot of effort into styling it out of his face daily, partly using a blow dryer, a brush, and magical hairspray to force it behind the ears and backwards!

With the lack of time and his mind scattered, focusing on everything but his own appearance, he found Linnéa after just a few minutes at an empty table.
Eldred forced his way by utilizing gap between two students to reach her. He sighed deeply, filling his lungs again to calm the loud beating heart.

"Linnéa, good morning" he greeted the Hufflepuff student. Her outfit made his mouth corners turn up, and he smiled warmly. Her light clothing suited her blonde hair. Just like last time, she appeared to him like a princess, peaceful and with clear, natural beauty. He wasn’t shy, and such a look deserved a compliment!
"You look incredibly pretty, the colors suit you exceptionally well" he added, placing his notebook from his arm on an empty spot on the table. There were already her materials on the plate. His gray eyes briefly wandered over them. She was much better prepared than he was - and the boy probably looked today just like the Gryffindor students his parents still criticized to this day: troublemaker with no sense of proper dressing routines.

Spoken: #610000 Clothes: dishevelled Uniform

Linnea was just finishing writing a note when Eldred sat down. He pulled up a chair and took a seat directly in front of his notebook. As he did, he noticed the growing redness in her face and couldn't help but feel pleased that she‘d accepted the compliment this well.

His own appearance was of little concern to him at the moment. The student sighed and tried to force his body into relaxation, but the tension in his limbs wouldn't ease. Hearing the comment about his cheerful looks, he was suprised!
In fact, he had feared he would come across as gloomy, like three days of rainy weather. Yet, in truth, he indeed couldn’t shake off the nervous happiness from the previous night.

Her question was close enough to what had happened to bring an embarrassed flush to his face. So much so for having control over his body! He probably used up all his battery of self-control yesterday night. Eldred pressed his lips tightly together but still couldn’t prevent his mouth from curling into a shy smile.

“Well...,” he began, and slid his chair closer to Linnéa. When he was right next to her, he leaned in slightly more, enough to allow them to whisper and to seem awfully close.
“I didn’t have much time to pick something out, I went to bed too late and overslept—but well, not my bed... I was in Sebastian Drake’s bed. We cuddled and talked...for who knows how long.”
He had to say it. Someone, anyone, the 12-year-old needed to confide in! Eldred could barely believe it himself that he'd slept in Sebastian Drake’s bed and held the boy in his arms. It had been such a warm and comfortable position. The desire to cuddle again came to his mind, causing his ears to redden.
“We’re friends now... but”—Merlin, it was hard to force the words out of his mouth—“but I think I like him... maybe...”
He sincerely hoped that she‘d take it well. After all, he knew she had been at the Kissing Party and must have seen Sebastian kiss many others. Eldred didn’t want to come across as someone who was superficially chasing after a ladies' man.

Spoken: #610000 Clothes: Messy uniform

Eldred could hardly believe it himself, and now that the dam had broken and the first words had been reported, it kept pouring out. He found it so ridiculous that he could share her giggling. Snickering with one hand over his mouth, he grinned, though his eyes looked almost horrified.

“I can hardly believe it actually happened! By Merlin, I wanted to ask for help due to a dead flower, but he was lying there so insanely cute in bed, he thought I was attacking him and pulled me in, and then, well then–” Eldred took a deep breath. The giggling stopped, and he ran his fingers through his hair, embarrassed, pushing it back from his eyes.
“Then he started teasing me again, and I really didn't want to go through that again, him getting under my skin and me sitting in his bed, with a red face to make matters worse..! It was like a knee-jerk reaction, so I just… went along with it and said: yes, I came for cuddles...and …I might have called him sweetheart.”

He let his hair fall back down. It once again was wildly into his face, and the student glanced across the room for a moment. He sat properly in front of his sketchbook, placed his arms on the desk, and buried his face in his hands. What did he hope for from this? He didn’t even know! The feelings were confusing and strange—especially for a boy. This wasn’t right at all, what would his father say—congratulate him? Want to meet Sebastian? Both would be a complete embarrassment!

“I don’t know, maybe a friendship—a real one, not one of those superficial ones. He’s really cute, I mean… not just his face, but what I know about him…” Eldred tried to put his thoughts into words, but expressing feelings was harder than he thought, especially when it came to crushes and silly hearts!
The Gryffindor lifted his head, took a deep breath, and could almost feel how her words and presence helped him relax. The student opened the sketchbook, partly to distract himself. “If I know more, I’ll tell you...” It would be better to drop the topic for now, he figured. At least until he knows better.

“About the drawing…” Eldred took a pen and thought deeply. He let the pen tip rest loosely on the paper, wondering if it would be stupid to draw Sebastian in a pink pajama like a silly, lovesick guy. It would probably look like a weird jellyfish; with Eldred's lack of drawing skills! What else was there? Maybe something she was good at? His eyes briefly glanced at Linnéa.

“Hmm… maybe horses, like the ones you painted…”
Then he heard ‚Quentin‘. Eldred didn’t know what he had expected, but it wasn’t that someone would come by and walk directly up to them, now standing in their front. A sudden pale flush crossed his lips. With his head held higher, he looked at the brown-haired boy and only heard Linnéa’s reaction from the side.
It had been a while since he had made new acquaintances, but never on at a day when he looked like he'd been swapped with someone messy! The situation was so bizarre that he managed to produce a genuine smile - Amused by how ridiculous this first meeting was, he examined Quentin, pale but relaxed.

“Hey, nice to meet you... I’m Eldred,” he greeted the other boy, briefly letting his gray eyes scan him from top to bottom. He seemed friendly, though a bit odd for just approaching two random students like this. It was obvious that Eldred found the whole thing more interesting than uncomfortable.

Spoken: #610000 Clothes: Messy uniform

Eldred thought for a moment as Quentin nodded, his face twisting into a grin, wondering if he recognized the other boy from somewhere. The features didn’t match anyone he had consciously noticed, but the first-year student body wasn’t particularly large either. They were likely in one or two of the same classes, in which Eldred had never taken the time to scan the room. He could imagine it was either Herbology or Astronomy. In both subjects, Eldred was only half-present. He simply despised Herbology, and while he loved Astronomy, the late hours had left him sleepdrunk.

Watching Quentin, Eldred noted that he was carrying more supplies than the Gryffindor. This was not surprising; after all, Eldred had rushed in a sleepy haze into the library this morning. The sudden sound of Quentin's head hitting the edge of the table all of sudden, sent shivers down Eldred's back and his face to grimace. It sounded painful, and a trace of concern crossed his gray eyes as Quentin got up and rubbed his head. Eldred felt a great sense of relief when the other boy continued talking instead of crying or curling up in misery on the table.

At Quentin's question, he immediately heard Linnéa's succinct explanation. His gaze turned to the side, and a grateful smile briefly crossed his lips. Indeed, he was very glad that Linnéa hadn’t revealed the entire truth – or rather, almost none of it. After all, he had only confided in her because he trusted her ability to keep secrets as discreetly as possible.
To elaborate on the blonde's words, he turned back to Quentin and smiled at him calmly. "I want to practice; Linnéa draws exceptionally well, so I thought she might teach me a bit."

With Eldred’s full attention on Quentin, he couldn't help but display his surprise at what Quentin said next—not even out of politeness!
Quentin was in Ravenclaw? Until now, Eldred hadn’t known anyone from the house of clever, individualistic minds at Hogwarts. This information, despite his desire to remain neutral, sparked a hint of negative judgment in his mind. If Quentin kept bumping his head, maybe he’d have to switch houses..!
The fleeting thought stirred a guilty feeling into his stomach almost immediately.

He couldn’t understand the problem with Transfiguration. Thus Eldred raised an eyebrow critically before commenting, “You shouldn’t be ashamed of something like that. Everyone has subjects they struggle with. You wouldn’t look down on a Gryffindor who's bad at DADA, right? That would be pretty mean...” to emphasize his genuinely positive meant statement, he smiled briefly and winked with his left eye.

To the remark about Linnéa becoming a Prefect, Eldred grinned immediately. If one thing was true, it was that statement. He turned his head to her and could see right away that she wasn’t opposed to it! And Quentin on the Quidditch team? Eldred’s gaze darted back to the other boy. He scanned him from bottom to top and rested his chin on his hand, elbow on the table. A dreamy expression formed on his face.

The idea that both of them had a bright future ahead was too good to be true. At least one thing seemed to be going well. “I’m rooting for both of you. Also, Linnéa—” his gray eyes shifted to the side, focusing on the pretty girl. “You don’t need good grades to be a Prefect. You just need to be trustworthy... and you are.” He refrained from sharing his thoughts about his own future. Focusing on himself would have felt impolite and selfish.