In a room without a light, without a view [Danny]

[Oliver Pace]

Though Oliver was slowly adjusting and growing to love the immense structure that was Hogwarts, the dungeons were one part of the castle he wasn't too fond of yet. They set him on edge, because they seemed so ominous – every time he went to a potions lesson, he was scared he'd never be let back out. The dark, dingy rooms gave him the impression that he'd be chained to the wall, fed to some lions, or some other form of torture. Maybe it didn't help that in his few months of being at the castle, he'd learnt that the dungeons were the place where he was most likely to get beaten up, but so far he hadn't been able to figure out why this was.

Potions wasn't exactly his favourite lesson, either. You had to be so precise and careful to get things right, and that was more or less the antithesis of the tall boy. The professor also seemed to have a thing for making people work in pairs, and for Oliver, this just made his life a little bit more difficult. It was hard to co-ordinate yourself with another person when you didn't talk and the other didn't have the patience to try and work with you. Most of the time, he ended up doing very little work or all of it, depending on what he judged the other person's attitude to be. It didn't matter to him – most of the time, he knew how to do it anyway. If he didn't, he could learn quickly.

Taking his seat in the classroom (which, truthfully, had such bad lighting that he worried that it might damage his eyes), he glanced around the room. There were a good few people in there already, all talking and laughing with each other, the professor would probably be in soon. Oliver ran one hand through his hair and slumped back in his chair, wondering which one of his classmates he'd be lumbered with today.

[Danny Bailey]

Danny ran in just when the bell was about to sound, panting heavily as he fell down into a seat next to his friend. He'd overslept, then was unable to find his boxers. When he finally located the silk yellow things [underneath his roommates bed, though he had no idea how on earth they'd gotten there] he found out that he was late AND missing his Potions book. All in all it hadn't been a brilliant morning for the blonde. But he was here now, and he'd made it on time - granted, with a disapproving stare from their Professor - so it was all good.

Apparently the man felt like punishing him, because as soon as he started reading the pairs of people aloud, he heard his best friend groan. They weren't paired up, and he was instead supposed to work with a kid named Oliver Pace. Apparently that was a bad thing, judging by the sympathetic looks that were sent his way.

It was odd, but he couldn't remember anyone by that name. Was this someone that had been in his class for years, and he just hadn't noticed? Was he really that scatterbrained? As he looked around the room, he was trying to find who belonged to the name, and was finally pointed towards a rather cute brunette by his classmates.

Grabbing his stuff, he wondered what could be so bad about working with him, and sat down next to the Ravenclaw, determined to make the best of it. "Hey" He smiled, extending his hand with a large grin "I'm Danny".

[Oliver Pace]

The blonde seemed friendly enough. Oliver wondered how long this would last before the other got tired of attempting to talk with him. Still, it was worth a try. There was some hope in his mind that someone other than his best friend slash dorm mate would be able to tolerate his presence. His green eyes flickered over the boy, resting on the hand he was being offered for a moment, before returning to the other's face.

With the slightest hint of a smile, Oliver gave a small wave, paused a moment, then shook the other's hand. He'd seen this man a few times before, in quite a lot of his classes, and also in the corridors (occasionally kissing someone, always a different person, not always the opposite gender). The dark-haired boy had no idea why Danny always managed to catch his attention, even if it was briefly, but he'd seen him enough to know that he was always late. Oliver personally thought he always looked quite tired, but no one else seemed to think so, and in any case he always looked so incredibly happy, whether he was getting enough sleep or not probably wasn't that important.

Realising he'd been staring at the boy for far too long now, Oliver bit his lip and dropped his hand, directing his gaze to his feet at the same time. He had a feeling that this was going to be an interesting lesson, in one way or another

[Danny Bailey]

He was definitely cute, Danny could tell that. And yet, there was something strange about him. Something that made him wonder. As nice as the brunette seemed, he wasn't too well liked, and he couldn't help mulling over exactly why that could be. As it were, he completely missed the fact that Oliver hadn't introduced himself. Hadn't spoken to him at all.

"So, what are we working on today? I didn't quite catch that..seeing as I was pretty much late again" He found himself blushing a little, which was quite odd considering how much everyone knew about him, but not once you knew his secrets. He glanced at the board, which held no clues as for what Potion they'd be making today. One way or the other, the Ravenclaw would have to help him out.

Running fingers through his hair, the blonde looked around the classroom, seeing most of the students up and about, getting their cauldrons and the ingredients needed for todays assignment. They were pretty much the only pair not yet doing anything, and he wondered whether the Professor would end up docking points if they didn't finish their concoction in time. "We should probably get started..."

[Oliver Pace]

So far, so good. At least the boy didn't seem to hate him yet. Maybe this potions lesson would be better than all the others. Oliver nodded as Danny said about starting their work, and pulled his text book out of his bag. Setting the book on the table - gently, because he figured that any loud noise would be very displeasing to Danny's ears if he'd just woken up - he flipped it open, found the right page and tapped the title.

The blonde hadn't asked any questions yet, which was odd. That seemed to be the first thing anyone did when they started talking to him, his family included. That was, back when his family actually spoke to him, which hadn't happened in a while now. Not that he minded too much, he didn't see them that often anyway. It did make for pretty a pretty cold summer, though. Blinking these thoughts away, he looked at his partner for a few minutes, gave him another soft smile and got up to get them a cauldron, all the while wishing that his best friend was here. He was the one person that could have made all of this a little less awkward.

[Danny Bailey]

Huh. Maybe the other had a cold? Although he hadn't seen a scarf, Danny concluded that that must be it. The other wasn't speaking because it hurt or was forbidden by the nurse. As much as he visited the Hospital Wing, it was usually for minor injuries, and he'd luckily never had anything as bad as this poor boy had. Not being allowed to speak sounded terrible to him. He felt bad for the brunette, and tried to remind himself not to coax the other into talking too much. It couldn't be easy, having to keep quiet like that.

Busying himself instead with the book, he quickly read up on the Potion they were supposed to make. Sixth Year was supposedly a lot harder, and the Potion definitely sounded like it. Granted, they weren't going to fully manage until their Seventh Year, but they were working on things that would come up in their NEWT exams eventually. It was interesting and scary at the same time.

His eyes soon drifted back to the brunette, who was startingly attractive despite the fact that he hadn't heard him speak yet. Usually, Danny was attracted to peoples voices. You could hear so much in the melody of their words. It was almost a pity to lose that when they kissed, but you couldn't have everything, he mused, as his gaze followed the Ravenclaw through the classroom.

[Oliver Pace]

Returning minutes later with the cauldron and ingredients in his arms, Oliver put them down on the table and returned to his seat, not too sure what to do now. He ruffled his hair up a bit, now chewing pretty hard on his bottom lip. Danny made him feel quite awkward for some reason he couldn't quite decide. It was strange, because the man seemed to be taking to him better than most people did. There was no reason to feel so uncomfortable, so why did he feel like he was being watched carefully and judged by him?

This was probably a random burst of paranoia, the Ravenclaw assured himself that he probably wasn't being scrutinised as closely as he thought. Why would the blonde be interested in him enough to do that, anyway? Oliver's eyes moved to the other's face again, a thoughtful look on his face while he considered this. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that the boy probably didn't care enough to pay that much attention to him, and decided that they probably should get moving if they wanted this done in time. Leaning forward slightly, he attempted to read the book for instructions, but his attention rather annoyingly drew itself back to Danny, and he found himself looking at the boy once again.

[Danny Bailey]

It seemed as if Oliver couldn't quite keep his eyes to himself either, which made him smile at the other. It was a rather crooked smile that many a girl [and boy] had called cute before, or even award-winning once or twice. He wasn't really banking on it to work, but it could hardly hurt to smile at the cute brunette, could it? It wasn't as if the boy would run away screaming. At least, Danny sincerely hoped he wouldn't.

Pushing a cutting board with one of the ingredients towards Oliver, he went to grab his own knife, having set another, similar board in front of himself. The blonde was trying to be sympathetic and not speak to him as much as he usually would, since the other wouldn't be able to return the favor. And, he mused, although writing notes on a piece of paper sounded like it'd work, they could hardly do that when they were supposed to work on their Potion.

"Are you any good?" He looked at him, his fingers pausing on the knife instinctively. It wouldn't do to be sent to the Hospital Wing with his fingers cut off, just because he couldn't keep his eyes off a lovely boy. "At Potions, I mean. I'm alright, I suppose, but if you've got excellent grades I should probably follow your lead." He was a Ravenclaw, he was bound to be better at this subject than Danny was.

[Oliver Pace]

That smile provoked some strange feeling in his stomach, and he looked away pretty hastily after that, biting down on the inside of his cheek and willing himself not to blush. He was doing a good job so far. He didn't like that feeling one bit, though it wasn't entirely unpleasant, and he certainly hated the things it made him think. Grabbing his knife, he forced all of this thoroughly out of his mind. It wasn't right to think like that. At least, not for him.

Trying to distract himself from all of this, he started chopping up the ingredient on his board, perhaps a little more viciously than he meant to. Danny's question made him pause mid-cut, and he reluctantly looked back up at the blonde again. It took a few seconds for the words to really register in his mind, but once they did, he gave the boy a small nod, with another little smile. Good. Yeah, he was good at Potions, even though he hated the subject so much. He could do it, even if it took more focus than he normally put into anything, but he wasn't entirely sure how the other could follow his lead when he couldn't talk to him.

[Danny Bailey]

Danny bit down on his lip when he saw how viciously Oliver was chopping at his ingredients. Combined with the reluctant stare, he felt quite awkward. "I'm sorry" It was said softly, the blonde returning his attention to his own chopping board, where he began to cut up his ingredient in tiny pieces, as instructed by their book. "I didn't mean to...It's not that I want you to do all the work or something. I just figured.." He shrugged a shoulder, not quite sure how to continue that sentence.

He had only intended that they might get a better grade if Oliver told him what to do. Told him, pointed, wrote, whatever way the kid would communicate with him. He didn't mean that he'd mooch off of his work and get the easy O. Although Danny wasn't the hardest worker of the bunch, he did try his best in class, when he was properly awake. First lesson Potions just wasn't his thing, and he had to concentrate more than usual.

But the boy seemed angry, and it made him worry. Bowing his head, he glanced at the next line of instructions, telling himself that it was probably best if he read through the book carefully and just applied everything the way it was said on the paper. Maybe then the Professor would like him, even if Oliver didn't.

[Oliver Pace]

Those words confused Oliver, and he gave the blonde a slightly shocked look. The boy had obviously misread him, which, in fairness, wasn't hard to do. He'd learnt that people weren't as good at interpretting emotions when they didn't have words and tone to judge by. Body language was alright, but easy to misunderstand. His concentration wavered, and in this lapse, his knife slipped and left him with a thin cut across his index finger. Eyes widened, he stared at the wound for a few moments, before shoving the bleeding appendage in his mouth.

He tried to get Danny's attention by putting spare hand on his shoulder, then shook his head gently. It was pretty much impossible for him to get this through to the boy, but he was just trying to tell him that he wasn't angry at him. He gestured to the boy to wait one second, and bent down to look through his bag, figuring that if the boy was going to make an effort to like him, he might aswell make one too. He found the first piece of writing apparatus he came to, which happened to be a muggle biro, and sat up again. Then, still sucking on his injured finger, he scribbled messily on the edge of his textbook.

Sorry - I'm not angry.

[Danny Bailey]

He made a small sound of horror as Oliver cut himself, his mouth opening up without permission to say something when the boy put a hand on his shoulder and shushed him. Obediently, Danny shut his mouth again, chewing on his bottom lip as he waited for the other to...do whatever he wanted to do. It took him a few moments, but eventually he saw she small scribbled reply, and that made him smile again.

It was odd, how the blonde wanted to write back to him, rather than give him a proper reply. He was...maybe honoring the fact that Oliver wasn't speaking? It'd be odd, a one way conversation, to say the least, but that wasn't why he took his own quill and scribbled down his reply.

Okay then. I'm glad =). Is your throat really sore?

He still figured that was the reason, but something in the other boys eyes made him think otherwise. He seemed so...used to this. Not once had he even tried to open his mouth and give him a reply. Oliver hadn't even seemed to consider that he could speak, and it made the Hufflepuff think that maybe...maybe he couldn't. Maybe he couldn't speak, at all.

[Oliver Pace]

That shocked noise amused him a bit. How adorable. He once again shook that thought out of his head, though it didn't bother him so much. Friends could be adorable, right? Even though Danny wasn't his friend just yet, he really seemed quite sweet so far and, well, Oliver was hopeful. He wouldn't mind having another person in his life, especially this blonde. He sucked on his finger a bit more, grimacing at the taste, before pulling it out and inspecting it. At least it wasn't bleeding now. He could deal with that.

The Hufflepuff had written his reply, and Oliver's eyes flicked over it. He had to wait until the boy was done, even though they were sitting next to each other, because he hated reading while people were writing. After reading the response, he gave the man a confused look and bit his lip as he wrote.

No? Why's that?

That was such a strange thing to ask. Why would Danny just assume that? He'd thought that pretty much everyone in this castle knew he didn't talk, or assumed he was too arrogant to grace anyone with his words.

[Danny Bailey]

You're not speaking. I figured...But it's not that, is it? There's another reason you don't speak.

Danny looked at the note, then at Oliver with a long, thoughtful gaze. You don't. At all. Right? He didn't speak at all. Even though Danny had no clue whysoever that could be, he was fairly sure that he was hitting the mark with this one. And he knew...he knew that he couldn't ask. That he couldn't just stomp all over the fact that he didn't speak and demand to know why.

They were partners in class, and that was all they were. They weren't friends or family, he didn't have any right to ask for an answer, and so he didn't. The blonde had always been somewhat frightened of other people getting angry - especially his father, and if he could avoid that, he would. It didn't mean he'd keep his mouth shut if something seriously bothered him, but in this case he was just severely curious.

Danny pushed the note in the direction of the other boy, giving him a small smile before putting the chopped up ingredients in the cauldron, stirring counter clockwise twenty-seven times. They had to at least look like they were assembling a proper potion.

[Oliver Pace]

Oliver scanned over the note when it was pushed towards him, then raised his gaze and stared at the blonde for a moment, before shaking his head gently and turning his attention back to the potion. He glanced at the book, diced up something that looked strangely like a tongue and chucked it into the pot, shuddering slightly as he did so. This lesson made him feel ill sometimes, so many of the ingredients felt disgusting. Luckily, there hadn't been anything with the texture of cotton wool yet. He thought he might be sick if he had to touch that stuff.

Once again, he turned his green eyes on to the blonde, and looked at him for a while, chewing his lip. He wondered if Danny would push this any further - As nice as he seemed to be, it didn't look like he was very good at controlling what came out of his mouth. Oliver had no idea what he'd do if he did ask. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to face that. Not knowing what else to say on this, he lowered his eyes and stared at his fingers, playing with them nervously. That was probably another reason why he had troubles fitting in here. Not only did he seem to give off some arrogant air when people didn't bother to talk to him, but strangers also made him awkward when they did. He really couldn't win with people around here.