FIC - You Are The Magic In Me
Title: You Are The Magic In Me (one-shot)
Rating: PG-13 (a little bad language, dark moments)
Summary: Harry Potter/High School Musical crossover. The East High gang (mostly Chyan) at Hogwarts.
Disclaimer: Neither High School Musical nor Harry Potter are mine, sorry.
Author's note: Sorry for the cheesiness of the title :) Thanks for reading!
YEAR ONE
They had first met on the Hogwarts Express, going to Hogwarts for the very first time. His sister, as Chad learned her to be later, bumped into Chad in the narrow hallway and refused to apologize for it. Chad was about to explode at her when Ryan Evans hastily apologized for her, leading her away. At that moment, Chad wasn't a big fan of either of them.
The Sorting Hat ceremony was one of the worst moments in Chad's life. He had gotten into Gryffindor, sure, which would please about sixteen generations of his wizarding ancestors, but Troy Bolton, his best friend of all eleven years of his life, was sorted into Hufflepuff. Not only that, but the seat next to Chad at the dining table was occupied by none other than the Evans boy who felt the need to apologize for his sister's mistakes. The only other good part about it was that his twin sister was sorted into Slytherin, because she was especially cunning, according to her brother.
Three weeks into term, Ryan was especially tired after Charms class, having stayed up late the night before studying for a Potions exam. He returned up to the boys dormitory, fairly certain no one would be there this early in the day.
When he entered the dormitory, the drapes around Danforth's bed were drawn, but they couldn't mask the sound of soft crying. Ryan paused at the door, wondering if he should approach him or not. He decided to tiptoe over to his bed to get his Transfiguration book with the plan to study in the library.
Unfortunately, his foot hit a particularly creaky board and suddenly, Danforth was silent. Ryan silently cursed his failure at stealth and said, "Hey."
"Evans?" Danforth asked, his voice tired and sad.
"I'm just grabbing my book," Ryan said, rushing over to his bed table. He grabbed it and almost made it out the door before Danforth's voice stopped him. "Evans?" he asked again.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Ryan said.
"No, I just...you ever get homesick?"
Ryan frowned at the question and hesitated. Danforth started talking again. "No, of course you don't," he said bitterly. "You've got your sister here. Sorry. Stupid question."
"Of course I get homesick," Ryan said anyway. "Even with Shar here, it's not the same as home. I don't have my parents, or the kids in Junior Wizard Choir, or...anyone, really."
Danforth was silent, and for a second, Ryan was afraid he had shared too much.
Suddenly, the drapes around Danforth's bed flew open, and Ryan was sure that Danforth was going to make fun of him for being overly emotional or whatever, but he grinned weakly, the tears on his face still visible, and he said, "Come here, Evans. Misery loves company, right?"
Ryan was frozen solid for a second, before sputtering out, "What?"
"Unless you've got something better to do, I wouldn't mind the company."
If someone had put a wand with the threat of the Avada Kedavra curse on Ryan, he wouldn't be able to think of anything better to do. "OK," he said, putting his book on his nightstand and sitting gingerly on Chad's bed.
They talked for hours, and Chad was still crying a little bit, but from that day on, they were friends. When someone sees you crying, you can either ignore them for the rest of your life out of pure embarrassment, or allow yourself to be that vulnerable around them whenever you needed to by becoming their friend. They both, without any kind of mention to it, chose the latter.
---
YEAR TWO
The best thing about being a second year, in Chad's opinion, was that he was able to try out for the Quidditch team. "I can't believe you don't play," Chad told Ryan one night.
"I play, I just don't like playing for a team," Ryan said. "Back when I was in the Junior Wizard Choir, we had a tournament once a year."
"What position?"
"Keeper," said Ryan. "I could catch nearly everything."
"Dude!" Chad said, hitting his back. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? All this time you've been a Keeper, and you could've helped me practice my Chasing?"
"I haven't played for a really long time," Ryan said, his voice quieter. "I wouldn't be much help."
"I'll be the judge of that," Chad demanded. "Help me practice tonight. The tryouts are tomorrow, I need all the help I can get."
Ryan sighed before agreeing. "I'm just going to slow you down," he added.
"There's that self-confidence I love about you," Chad joked, grinning.
Ryan grinned back, but had to take a moment before he started reading again so his brain could work properly.
Ryan helped Chad practice that night, and Chad seemed more optimistic than nervous for the tryouts. He made Chaser (of course, Ryan thought), and the second he found out, Chad went to find Ryan and gave him a big hug. After they broke away, Chad pointed at Ryan. "All thanks to you, man."
Ryan looked down, blushing at the praise. "It was just one night," he said humbly.
"Are you kidding?" Chad lowered his voice. "Just by being my friend you help me. Don't you know that by now?"
Chad walked away to greet the rest of the Gryffindors, who were all cheering wildly in the common room. Ryan went back upstairs to the dormitory, pretending to sleep, when really, his head was spinning.
---
YEAR THREE
Troy had finally untwisted his dress robes and asked out Gabriella Montez, a pretty girl from Ravenclaw that he had been drooling over since he had first seen her singing on the train ride to Hogwarts. It turned out she thought he was pretty cute, too, and they became almost inseparable, leaving a lot less time for Chad to spend with his best friend.
"You know her?" Chad asked Ryan, as Ryan and Gabriella exchanged a little wave across the Great Hall.
"Yeah, she's in Choir with me," Ryan said. "She's been smiling a lot more ever since she started dating your friend. She's really nice."
"Yeah, well," Chad said huffily. He was a little bummed out to learn that the girl stealing his best friend from him wasn't pure evil.
"See her friend, there?" Ryan said, gesturing towards a beautiful girl sitting next to Gabriella. Chad nodded. "That's her friend, Taylor McKessie, another Ravenclaw. Gabriella wants to set you two up."
Chad nearly spit out his pumpkin juice all over his school robes. "What?" he sputtered.
"What?" Ryan asked, confused. "She's pretty, and nice, and really, really smart. Although if she's so smart, I don't know why she would ever be into you..."
Chad smacked Ryan lightly on the shoulder as Ryan laughed at his little joke. "What makes her think I need to be set up with someone?"
"Maybe because you're obsessing over their relationship?" Ryan asked innocently. "Maybe she thinks you need a girl to take your mind off of things."
"Well, tell her I can find my own dates, thank you very much," Chad said sulkily.
They went back to eating, but in the back of his mind, Ryan was thinking about how Chad had said "dates" and not "girls". It was completely minor, and there was little to no chance that it meant anything, but still, Ryan wondered.
---
YEAR FOUR
At the beginning of their fourth year, there was some tension between Troy and Chad. Not only were they still having a silent fight about Gabriella, but now that both Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter were in the Triwizard Tournament, there was tension between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor in general.
The fact that he was slowly losing his best friend was not lost on Chad, and he decided to deal with it in a way that would most certainly get him weeks of detention, and the loss of a lot of points for Gryffindor. He flirted with Madame Rosemerta at Hogsmeade the next time he was there, knowing that she loved his charm, and she sneaked him a good-sized bottle of mulled mead on the condition that he never told anyone.
He told Ryan, of course, because drinking by himself seemed pretty pathetic. He waited until late that night before dragging Ryan out of his bed down to the common room, which was completely empty.
"To Gryffindor!" Chad said proudly before taking the first swig of the mulled mead. Ryan followed with a slightly less enthusiastic "To Gryffindor" before drinking a small amount.
"Troy thinks he's so great," Chad was saying an hour later, his speech slurred together. He was quite tipsy at that point, being that it was his first time drinking and he didn't know his limits.
"I know," Ryan said. "You've told me." He was slightly more in control of himself, but he was definitely far from being sober.
"And...and he's always like, 'Can't play Quidditch today, Chad, Gabriella and I have to do such and such'. Every time!"
"Every time," Ryan echoed, taking another drink.
"And that's why I'm glad I have you," Chad said, now turning to look at Ryan, his eyes glassy. "Because you, you never do that to me."
"I know," Ryan said, tapping Chad's shoulder in a sign of support. "I'm great, aren't I?"
Chad paused, then started laughing like Ryan had just told the funniest joke ever. "You're funny," he said, taking his hand and running it down Ryan's face drunkenly.
Something started tingling in Ryan through his drunken haze, and he tried to get it out of his head. They sat in silence for a few minutes, staring at the fire flickering.
"I really do need you," Chad said suddenly, his voice clear, as if this statement was the result of hours of careful thinking. And he was facing Ryan, and suddenly, the space between them didn't seem to be as far as Ryan remembered, and he frowned, trying to process what was going on.
But there was no time, as Chad's hands were suddenly on Ryan's face, bringing it closer to his and then, they were kissing, urgently and desperately, as if Chad needed to prove that he really did need Ryan and Ryan needed to prove that he understood. Their hands were everywhere, over and under robes, exploring places that were familiar and strange all at the same time, and Chad just wouldn't let Ryan go.
A few minutes later, they pulled apart, and they looked at each other, their eyes wide. Ryan could feel Chad's breath on his skin, and he suddenly wished they were anywhere else, where they didn't have to worry about being discovered, or about being comfortable, or just about being two guys kissing each other.
He swallowed, and at the same time, he and Chad turned back to look at the fireplace. They were silent for a good ten minutes, before Chad said, "I'm tired", and he headed upstairs without another word or look at Ryan. It took Ryan awhile before following him, his heart breaking, because he knew what it was going to be like tomorrow. The drapes were drawn around Chad's bed, but Ryan knew he wasn't sleeping.
The next day, as Ryan predicted, neither of them mentioned it, thus denying that it ever happened. And Ryan was somehow back at square one. They continued their friendship throughout the year as if nothing had changed, but Ryan had changed, and he wanted, needed more.
---
YEAR FIVE
The summer after Cedric Diggory died, Ryan and Chad kept in touch by sending owls to each other almost daily. Chad was the first to know that Ryan had made Prefect, and Ryan was the first to know that Chad had scored season tickets to the Wimbourne Wasps Quidditch team. They were both grateful for every note they received. Every day, they were plagued by the thought of Voldemort actually returning and starting another war, and any sign that the other was still all right was comforting.
The first day they came back to Hogwarts, Chad and Ryan immediately hugged each other tightly, glad to be reunited. Chad teased Ryan a little more about being made a Prefect.
"And you get your own bathroom?" Chad said.
"Well, shared by all the prefects, but yeah," Ryan said. He grinned. "It's pretty awesome."
"Oh, come on," Chad said, lowering his voice. "Tell me you're going to show me it sometime."
Ryan's breath caught before he said, "Not tonight, too many people."
But Chad gave him a pleading look that Ryan couldn't resist, and he rolled his eyes, saying, "Fine, but not until late tonight."
"Just wake me up," Chad said. "You know where I sleep."
They sneaked in late that night, after everyone had fallen asleep after the big feast. Ryan made sure no one was in there, and he locked the door after him so no one would see Chad.
"First day as a prefect and I'm already breaking rules," Ryan said, standing with his arms crossed as Chad surveyed the bathroom.
"Nice," he commented. "Spacious."
"We do like our space."
"Do you?"
Chad spun around to look at Ryan, a desperate look on his face. Ryan faltered. "Danforth, I..."
"Dammit, Ryan, can't you call me Chad now?" Chad started to walk over to Ryan and he had no idea what to do. "Diggory died last year."
"I know."
"And now He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?" Chad continued. "It could...it could be over any second."
"Don't..." Ryan said, his voice breaking. "Don't talk like that."
"I'm being realistic."
"I don't need you to be realistic, I need you to be an optimist, for once in your life!" Ryan said, and for some reason, tears formed in his eyes. He brushed them away, frustrated.
Chad was as close to Ryan as he could be without actually touching him. "Do you really not remember what happened that night we got drunk?" he whispered.
Ryan looked into his eyes, then grabbed him and kissed him with an energy he wasn't even aware he had. Chad responded in kind, both of them releasing all the emotion that they had stored up for the past year. They broke apart, breathing heavily, and Chad closed his eyes, touching his forehead to Ryan's.
"I love you," he whispered, the words part of his breath.
"I love you," Ryan responded, kissing the side of Chad's mouth. "So much."
---
YEAR SIX
Ryan's father disappeared from the Ministry one day, as if he had just packed up and left the country. His wasn't an isolated case, and although no one spoke the words out loud, everyone knew he, just like all the others, was taken by Voldemort. Ryan was understandably devastated, and he and Sharpay spent a lot of time together. Chad didn't know how to reach him at that point. Ryan went through the motions, and his fingers still clasped Chad's when their hands touched, but he was empty, and for once, Chad didn't know how to fill it again.
Ryan and Sharpay didn't return home, however, and Ryan was suddenly in the library all hours of the day, researching as many spells and jinxes as he could. Except for Hermione Granger, he was probably the most experienced wizard of their year, learning more than he ever had in Dumbledore's Army the year previous.
Chad worried about this, mostly because Ryan never spoke of it to anyone but him. But he was still there, in the library with him, every single day, returning and getting books when Ryan needed them. It was all Chad could do to keep busy, and to keep Ryan under his watch so he didn't do anything stupid. It was Chad who would finally convince Ryan at the end of the night that it was time for them to go to bed, and he would often support him physically, as Ryan was always exhausted.
And if it was late enough, and the other boys had fallen into a deep sleep (it was easy to tell, as all of them were severe snorers), Chad would climb into bed with Ryan, draw the drapes, and hold him as he fell asleep. Ryan still shook sometimes, and all Chad could do was hold him as closely as he could and whisper, "I love you, and when this is all over, I don't care where we have to go, but I'm going to be with you, forever." And Ryan would smile, although it had lost some of its sparkle in the last few months, and he would kiss Chad until he fell asleep.
The day Dumbledore died, they became inseparable. With him gone, they knew it was only a matter of time before they would be faced with war, and, although neither of them admitted it, the possibility of death. Ryan stopped burying his head in books and allowed himself to be everywhere Chad was. Over the summer, they switched between houses so that they were always together. Their constant togetherness, instead of making them annoyed with each other, only made them grow stronger. Stronger in a way Voldemort could never understand. Stronger in the only way that would keep them alive.
---
YEAR SEVEN
The war came straight to Hogwarts. Ryan and Chad joined Dumbledore's Army again under Neville Longbottom's instruction. Ryan was especially helpful with all the new spells he had learned the year before. Through helping the D.A., Chad started to see a little bit of Ryan's sparkle back. He was building back his enthusiasm, and by the end, was almost back to where he was in his fifth year.
Then, one day, Harry Potter came back through the portrait. It was strange, really, seeing him and Ron come back, when Chad and Ryan had been accustomed to seeing their beds empty every single day for the past year. They knew it was the night, the battle, and in the back corner, where no one could see them, Ryan grabbed Chad's hand.
"We're ready," he whispered, his voice strong enough to convince Chad that they could do anything.
They fought side by side, and watched people die in front of them, Death Eaters and friends. Chad froze up for a second, and was almost killed by a Death Eater, when Ryan shouted the counter-curse just in time. Ryan killed him, and he went over to Chad, taking his face in his hands.
"Come on, Chad, stay with me," Ryan kept saying, over and over, and Chad was finally shaken out of it.
"OK," he said, putting his hand on Ryan's chest, right over his heart. "Ryan..."
"I know," Ryan said. "You too."
Somehow, they won. After all the fighting, all the killing, all the pain, they won. And Ryan and Chad had lived. They had won the war, yes, for the triumph of good, and for all of the world, but really, for each other. After spending a few months with their families, they went off and stayed together, forever. One day they began to smile again, and awhile later they laughed, and then, one day, they began to live again. Things like Quidditch didn't really matter anymore, but hope, and love? That was all they needed.
Rating: PG-13 (a little bad language, dark moments)
Summary: Harry Potter/High School Musical crossover. The East High gang (mostly Chyan) at Hogwarts.
Disclaimer: Neither High School Musical nor Harry Potter are mine, sorry.
Author's note: Sorry for the cheesiness of the title :) Thanks for reading!
YEAR ONE
They had first met on the Hogwarts Express, going to Hogwarts for the very first time. His sister, as Chad learned her to be later, bumped into Chad in the narrow hallway and refused to apologize for it. Chad was about to explode at her when Ryan Evans hastily apologized for her, leading her away. At that moment, Chad wasn't a big fan of either of them.
The Sorting Hat ceremony was one of the worst moments in Chad's life. He had gotten into Gryffindor, sure, which would please about sixteen generations of his wizarding ancestors, but Troy Bolton, his best friend of all eleven years of his life, was sorted into Hufflepuff. Not only that, but the seat next to Chad at the dining table was occupied by none other than the Evans boy who felt the need to apologize for his sister's mistakes. The only other good part about it was that his twin sister was sorted into Slytherin, because she was especially cunning, according to her brother.
Three weeks into term, Ryan was especially tired after Charms class, having stayed up late the night before studying for a Potions exam. He returned up to the boys dormitory, fairly certain no one would be there this early in the day.
When he entered the dormitory, the drapes around Danforth's bed were drawn, but they couldn't mask the sound of soft crying. Ryan paused at the door, wondering if he should approach him or not. He decided to tiptoe over to his bed to get his Transfiguration book with the plan to study in the library.
Unfortunately, his foot hit a particularly creaky board and suddenly, Danforth was silent. Ryan silently cursed his failure at stealth and said, "Hey."
"Evans?" Danforth asked, his voice tired and sad.
"I'm just grabbing my book," Ryan said, rushing over to his bed table. He grabbed it and almost made it out the door before Danforth's voice stopped him. "Evans?" he asked again.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Ryan said.
"No, I just...you ever get homesick?"
Ryan frowned at the question and hesitated. Danforth started talking again. "No, of course you don't," he said bitterly. "You've got your sister here. Sorry. Stupid question."
"Of course I get homesick," Ryan said anyway. "Even with Shar here, it's not the same as home. I don't have my parents, or the kids in Junior Wizard Choir, or...anyone, really."
Danforth was silent, and for a second, Ryan was afraid he had shared too much.
Suddenly, the drapes around Danforth's bed flew open, and Ryan was sure that Danforth was going to make fun of him for being overly emotional or whatever, but he grinned weakly, the tears on his face still visible, and he said, "Come here, Evans. Misery loves company, right?"
Ryan was frozen solid for a second, before sputtering out, "What?"
"Unless you've got something better to do, I wouldn't mind the company."
If someone had put a wand with the threat of the Avada Kedavra curse on Ryan, he wouldn't be able to think of anything better to do. "OK," he said, putting his book on his nightstand and sitting gingerly on Chad's bed.
They talked for hours, and Chad was still crying a little bit, but from that day on, they were friends. When someone sees you crying, you can either ignore them for the rest of your life out of pure embarrassment, or allow yourself to be that vulnerable around them whenever you needed to by becoming their friend. They both, without any kind of mention to it, chose the latter.
---
YEAR TWO
The best thing about being a second year, in Chad's opinion, was that he was able to try out for the Quidditch team. "I can't believe you don't play," Chad told Ryan one night.
"I play, I just don't like playing for a team," Ryan said. "Back when I was in the Junior Wizard Choir, we had a tournament once a year."
"What position?"
"Keeper," said Ryan. "I could catch nearly everything."
"Dude!" Chad said, hitting his back. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? All this time you've been a Keeper, and you could've helped me practice my Chasing?"
"I haven't played for a really long time," Ryan said, his voice quieter. "I wouldn't be much help."
"I'll be the judge of that," Chad demanded. "Help me practice tonight. The tryouts are tomorrow, I need all the help I can get."
Ryan sighed before agreeing. "I'm just going to slow you down," he added.
"There's that self-confidence I love about you," Chad joked, grinning.
Ryan grinned back, but had to take a moment before he started reading again so his brain could work properly.
Ryan helped Chad practice that night, and Chad seemed more optimistic than nervous for the tryouts. He made Chaser (of course, Ryan thought), and the second he found out, Chad went to find Ryan and gave him a big hug. After they broke away, Chad pointed at Ryan. "All thanks to you, man."
Ryan looked down, blushing at the praise. "It was just one night," he said humbly.
"Are you kidding?" Chad lowered his voice. "Just by being my friend you help me. Don't you know that by now?"
Chad walked away to greet the rest of the Gryffindors, who were all cheering wildly in the common room. Ryan went back upstairs to the dormitory, pretending to sleep, when really, his head was spinning.
---
YEAR THREE
Troy had finally untwisted his dress robes and asked out Gabriella Montez, a pretty girl from Ravenclaw that he had been drooling over since he had first seen her singing on the train ride to Hogwarts. It turned out she thought he was pretty cute, too, and they became almost inseparable, leaving a lot less time for Chad to spend with his best friend.
"You know her?" Chad asked Ryan, as Ryan and Gabriella exchanged a little wave across the Great Hall.
"Yeah, she's in Choir with me," Ryan said. "She's been smiling a lot more ever since she started dating your friend. She's really nice."
"Yeah, well," Chad said huffily. He was a little bummed out to learn that the girl stealing his best friend from him wasn't pure evil.
"See her friend, there?" Ryan said, gesturing towards a beautiful girl sitting next to Gabriella. Chad nodded. "That's her friend, Taylor McKessie, another Ravenclaw. Gabriella wants to set you two up."
Chad nearly spit out his pumpkin juice all over his school robes. "What?" he sputtered.
"What?" Ryan asked, confused. "She's pretty, and nice, and really, really smart. Although if she's so smart, I don't know why she would ever be into you..."
Chad smacked Ryan lightly on the shoulder as Ryan laughed at his little joke. "What makes her think I need to be set up with someone?"
"Maybe because you're obsessing over their relationship?" Ryan asked innocently. "Maybe she thinks you need a girl to take your mind off of things."
"Well, tell her I can find my own dates, thank you very much," Chad said sulkily.
They went back to eating, but in the back of his mind, Ryan was thinking about how Chad had said "dates" and not "girls". It was completely minor, and there was little to no chance that it meant anything, but still, Ryan wondered.
---
YEAR FOUR
At the beginning of their fourth year, there was some tension between Troy and Chad. Not only were they still having a silent fight about Gabriella, but now that both Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter were in the Triwizard Tournament, there was tension between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor in general.
The fact that he was slowly losing his best friend was not lost on Chad, and he decided to deal with it in a way that would most certainly get him weeks of detention, and the loss of a lot of points for Gryffindor. He flirted with Madame Rosemerta at Hogsmeade the next time he was there, knowing that she loved his charm, and she sneaked him a good-sized bottle of mulled mead on the condition that he never told anyone.
He told Ryan, of course, because drinking by himself seemed pretty pathetic. He waited until late that night before dragging Ryan out of his bed down to the common room, which was completely empty.
"To Gryffindor!" Chad said proudly before taking the first swig of the mulled mead. Ryan followed with a slightly less enthusiastic "To Gryffindor" before drinking a small amount.
"Troy thinks he's so great," Chad was saying an hour later, his speech slurred together. He was quite tipsy at that point, being that it was his first time drinking and he didn't know his limits.
"I know," Ryan said. "You've told me." He was slightly more in control of himself, but he was definitely far from being sober.
"And...and he's always like, 'Can't play Quidditch today, Chad, Gabriella and I have to do such and such'. Every time!"
"Every time," Ryan echoed, taking another drink.
"And that's why I'm glad I have you," Chad said, now turning to look at Ryan, his eyes glassy. "Because you, you never do that to me."
"I know," Ryan said, tapping Chad's shoulder in a sign of support. "I'm great, aren't I?"
Chad paused, then started laughing like Ryan had just told the funniest joke ever. "You're funny," he said, taking his hand and running it down Ryan's face drunkenly.
Something started tingling in Ryan through his drunken haze, and he tried to get it out of his head. They sat in silence for a few minutes, staring at the fire flickering.
"I really do need you," Chad said suddenly, his voice clear, as if this statement was the result of hours of careful thinking. And he was facing Ryan, and suddenly, the space between them didn't seem to be as far as Ryan remembered, and he frowned, trying to process what was going on.
But there was no time, as Chad's hands were suddenly on Ryan's face, bringing it closer to his and then, they were kissing, urgently and desperately, as if Chad needed to prove that he really did need Ryan and Ryan needed to prove that he understood. Their hands were everywhere, over and under robes, exploring places that were familiar and strange all at the same time, and Chad just wouldn't let Ryan go.
A few minutes later, they pulled apart, and they looked at each other, their eyes wide. Ryan could feel Chad's breath on his skin, and he suddenly wished they were anywhere else, where they didn't have to worry about being discovered, or about being comfortable, or just about being two guys kissing each other.
He swallowed, and at the same time, he and Chad turned back to look at the fireplace. They were silent for a good ten minutes, before Chad said, "I'm tired", and he headed upstairs without another word or look at Ryan. It took Ryan awhile before following him, his heart breaking, because he knew what it was going to be like tomorrow. The drapes were drawn around Chad's bed, but Ryan knew he wasn't sleeping.
The next day, as Ryan predicted, neither of them mentioned it, thus denying that it ever happened. And Ryan was somehow back at square one. They continued their friendship throughout the year as if nothing had changed, but Ryan had changed, and he wanted, needed more.
---
YEAR FIVE
The summer after Cedric Diggory died, Ryan and Chad kept in touch by sending owls to each other almost daily. Chad was the first to know that Ryan had made Prefect, and Ryan was the first to know that Chad had scored season tickets to the Wimbourne Wasps Quidditch team. They were both grateful for every note they received. Every day, they were plagued by the thought of Voldemort actually returning and starting another war, and any sign that the other was still all right was comforting.
The first day they came back to Hogwarts, Chad and Ryan immediately hugged each other tightly, glad to be reunited. Chad teased Ryan a little more about being made a Prefect.
"And you get your own bathroom?" Chad said.
"Well, shared by all the prefects, but yeah," Ryan said. He grinned. "It's pretty awesome."
"Oh, come on," Chad said, lowering his voice. "Tell me you're going to show me it sometime."
Ryan's breath caught before he said, "Not tonight, too many people."
But Chad gave him a pleading look that Ryan couldn't resist, and he rolled his eyes, saying, "Fine, but not until late tonight."
"Just wake me up," Chad said. "You know where I sleep."
They sneaked in late that night, after everyone had fallen asleep after the big feast. Ryan made sure no one was in there, and he locked the door after him so no one would see Chad.
"First day as a prefect and I'm already breaking rules," Ryan said, standing with his arms crossed as Chad surveyed the bathroom.
"Nice," he commented. "Spacious."
"We do like our space."
"Do you?"
Chad spun around to look at Ryan, a desperate look on his face. Ryan faltered. "Danforth, I..."
"Dammit, Ryan, can't you call me Chad now?" Chad started to walk over to Ryan and he had no idea what to do. "Diggory died last year."
"I know."
"And now He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?" Chad continued. "It could...it could be over any second."
"Don't..." Ryan said, his voice breaking. "Don't talk like that."
"I'm being realistic."
"I don't need you to be realistic, I need you to be an optimist, for once in your life!" Ryan said, and for some reason, tears formed in his eyes. He brushed them away, frustrated.
Chad was as close to Ryan as he could be without actually touching him. "Do you really not remember what happened that night we got drunk?" he whispered.
Ryan looked into his eyes, then grabbed him and kissed him with an energy he wasn't even aware he had. Chad responded in kind, both of them releasing all the emotion that they had stored up for the past year. They broke apart, breathing heavily, and Chad closed his eyes, touching his forehead to Ryan's.
"I love you," he whispered, the words part of his breath.
"I love you," Ryan responded, kissing the side of Chad's mouth. "So much."
---
YEAR SIX
Ryan's father disappeared from the Ministry one day, as if he had just packed up and left the country. His wasn't an isolated case, and although no one spoke the words out loud, everyone knew he, just like all the others, was taken by Voldemort. Ryan was understandably devastated, and he and Sharpay spent a lot of time together. Chad didn't know how to reach him at that point. Ryan went through the motions, and his fingers still clasped Chad's when their hands touched, but he was empty, and for once, Chad didn't know how to fill it again.
Ryan and Sharpay didn't return home, however, and Ryan was suddenly in the library all hours of the day, researching as many spells and jinxes as he could. Except for Hermione Granger, he was probably the most experienced wizard of their year, learning more than he ever had in Dumbledore's Army the year previous.
Chad worried about this, mostly because Ryan never spoke of it to anyone but him. But he was still there, in the library with him, every single day, returning and getting books when Ryan needed them. It was all Chad could do to keep busy, and to keep Ryan under his watch so he didn't do anything stupid. It was Chad who would finally convince Ryan at the end of the night that it was time for them to go to bed, and he would often support him physically, as Ryan was always exhausted.
And if it was late enough, and the other boys had fallen into a deep sleep (it was easy to tell, as all of them were severe snorers), Chad would climb into bed with Ryan, draw the drapes, and hold him as he fell asleep. Ryan still shook sometimes, and all Chad could do was hold him as closely as he could and whisper, "I love you, and when this is all over, I don't care where we have to go, but I'm going to be with you, forever." And Ryan would smile, although it had lost some of its sparkle in the last few months, and he would kiss Chad until he fell asleep.
The day Dumbledore died, they became inseparable. With him gone, they knew it was only a matter of time before they would be faced with war, and, although neither of them admitted it, the possibility of death. Ryan stopped burying his head in books and allowed himself to be everywhere Chad was. Over the summer, they switched between houses so that they were always together. Their constant togetherness, instead of making them annoyed with each other, only made them grow stronger. Stronger in a way Voldemort could never understand. Stronger in the only way that would keep them alive.
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YEAR SEVEN
The war came straight to Hogwarts. Ryan and Chad joined Dumbledore's Army again under Neville Longbottom's instruction. Ryan was especially helpful with all the new spells he had learned the year before. Through helping the D.A., Chad started to see a little bit of Ryan's sparkle back. He was building back his enthusiasm, and by the end, was almost back to where he was in his fifth year.
Then, one day, Harry Potter came back through the portrait. It was strange, really, seeing him and Ron come back, when Chad and Ryan had been accustomed to seeing their beds empty every single day for the past year. They knew it was the night, the battle, and in the back corner, where no one could see them, Ryan grabbed Chad's hand.
"We're ready," he whispered, his voice strong enough to convince Chad that they could do anything.
They fought side by side, and watched people die in front of them, Death Eaters and friends. Chad froze up for a second, and was almost killed by a Death Eater, when Ryan shouted the counter-curse just in time. Ryan killed him, and he went over to Chad, taking his face in his hands.
"Come on, Chad, stay with me," Ryan kept saying, over and over, and Chad was finally shaken out of it.
"OK," he said, putting his hand on Ryan's chest, right over his heart. "Ryan..."
"I know," Ryan said. "You too."
Somehow, they won. After all the fighting, all the killing, all the pain, they won. And Ryan and Chad had lived. They had won the war, yes, for the triumph of good, and for all of the world, but really, for each other. After spending a few months with their families, they went off and stayed together, forever. One day they began to smile again, and awhile later they laughed, and then, one day, they began to live again. Things like Quidditch didn't really matter anymore, but hope, and love? That was all they needed.